Heteroatom containing substituted fatty acids

ABSTRACT

Activated fatty acids, pharmaceutical compositions including activated fatty acids, methods for using activated fatty acids to treat a variety of diseases, and methods for preparing activated fatty acids are provided herein.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/248,049 filed Oct. 2, 2009, which is hereinincorporated by reference in its entirety.

GOVERNMENT INTERESTS

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PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

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BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

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2. Description of Related Art

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BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are directed to compounds including anaturally or non-naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturatedfatty acid having one or more electron withdrawing group wherein atleast one electron withdrawing group is associated with a carbon-carbondouble bond or a heteroatom or a pharmaceutically acceptable saltthereof. In some embodiments, the naturally or non-naturally occurring,unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may include an aliphatic chainhaving an number of carbons from about 4 to about 25, and in otherembodiments, the naturally or non-naturally occurring, unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid may include an aliphatic chain having 4 to 23carbons or, in certain embodiments, an aliphatic chain having 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, orcarbons. In additional embodiments, the naturally or non-naturallyoccurring unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may be a glycolipid,a glycerolipid, a phospholipid and a cholesterol ester.

The one or more electron withdrawing group of various embodiments mayinclude, but are not limited to, aldehyde (—COH), acyl (—COR), carbonyl(—CO), carboxylic acid (—COOH), ester (—COOR), halides (—Cl, —F, —Br,—I), fluoromethyl allyl fluoride (—CH═CHCH₂F), cyano (—CN), sulfoxide(—SOR), sulfonyl (—SO₂R), sulfonic acid (—SO₃H), 1°, 2° and 3° ammonium(—NR₃ ⁺), or nitro (—NO₂), wherein R is a hydrogen, methyl or C₂-C₆alkyl, and in particular embodiments, the one or more electronwithdrawing group may be a nitro (—NO₂) group. In some embodiments, theone or more electron withdrawing group may be positioned on an alphacarbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of the naturally or non-naturallyoccurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid, and in otherembodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing group may bepositioned on a beta carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of thenaturally or non-naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturatedfatty acid. In still other embodiments, the one or more electronwithdrawing group may be positioned on a gamma carbon of a carbon-carbondouble bond of the naturally or non-naturally occurring, unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid. In certain embodiments, the at least one ofthe one or more electron withdrawing group may be an electronwithdrawing vinyl group or an electron withdrawing allylic group. Insome embodiments, a carbon-carbon double bond associated with the one ormore electron withdrawing group may be in cis configuration, and inothers, a carbon-carbon double bond associated with the one or moreelectron withdrawing group may be in trans configuration. In still otherembodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing group may be in anabsolute stereochemistry of R at an sp³ chiral/stereogenic center, andin some other embodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing groupmay be in an absolute stereochemistry of S at an sp³ chiral/stereogeniccenter.

In various embodiments, a carbon-carbon double bond may occur at anycarbon of the aliphatic chain of the naturally or non-naturallyoccurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid. In someembodiments, the naturally or non-naturally occurring, unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid may be a fatty acid with two or moreconjugated carbon-carbon double bonds, and in particular embodiments, atleast one of the one or more electron withdrawing group may be at anycarbon in the two or more conjugated carbon-carbon double bonds. Incertain embodiments, at least one of the one or more electronwithdrawing group may be positioned at C-9, C-10, C-12, C-13 or acombination thereof.

In various embodiments, one or more heteroatoms may be positionedanywhere on the aliphatic chain of the unsaturated or polyunsaturatedfatty acid, and in some embodiments, at least one heteroatom may bepositioned at the first 1, 2, 3, or 4 carbons from the carboxy terminusof the fatty acid to produce a carbonate, acetic acid, propionic acid,or butanoic acid derivatives of the activated fatty acid. In otherembodiments, an electron withdrawing group may be positioned at a carbonimmediately adjacent to the heteroatom, or in further embodiments, thecarbon immediately adjacent to the carbon immediately adjacent to theheteroatom. In still other embodiments, an electron withdrawing groupmay be positioned at both carbons immediately adjacent to theheteroatom, and/or the carbon immediately adjacent to the carbonimmediately adjacent to the heteroatom. In yet other embodiments, theremay be no electron withdrawing associated with the heteroatom providedthat the aliphatic chain include at least one electron withdrawing groupassociated with another heteroatom or a carbon-carbon double bond.

In some embodiments, one or more non-carbon-carbon linkage such as, forexample, an ester linkage, an ether linkage, and a vinyl ether linkagemay be substituted on the aliphatic chain of the naturally ornon-naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid, andin other embodiments, the naturally or non-naturally occurring,unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may further include one ormore functional group other than an electron withdrawing grouppositioned at any carbon of the aliphatic chain of the naturally ornon-naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid.

In particular embodiments, the composition can further include apharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient. In other embodiments,the composition may further include one or more of diluents, fillers,disintegrants, binders, lubricants, surfactants, hydrophobic vehicles,water soluble vehicles, emulsifiers, buffers, humectants, moisturizers,solubilizers, antioxidants, preservatives or combinations thereof, andin still other embodiments, compound may further including apharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient may be formulated as,for example, a solid, solution, powder, fluid emulsion, fluidsuspension, semi-solid or dry powder.

Various embodiments of the invention further include a compoundcomprising an unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid having at leastone heteroatom and/or at least one carbon-carbon double bond and one ormore electron withdrawing group associated with at least one heteroatomor double bond or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, with theproviso that the electron withdrawing group associated with the at leastone double bond is not a nitro (—NO₂) group. In some embodiments, theunsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may include a naturallyoccurring fatty acid or derivative thereof, and in such embodiments, theunsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may include an aliphaticcarbon chain having an even number of carbons. In particularembodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may includean aliphatic carbon chain having from 4 to 24 carbons, and in otherembodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid comprises analiphatic carbon chain having from 12 to 18 carbons. In certainembodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may be, forexample, a ω-2, ω-3, ω-4, ω-5, ω-6, ω-7, ω-8, ω-9 fatty acids andequivalents and, derivatives thereof. For example, in some embodiments,the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may be linolenic acid,alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentanoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid,docosahexaenoic acid, stearidonic acid, myristoleic acid, linoleic acid,gamma-linoleic acid, dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid, arachidonic acid,palmitoleic acid, oleic acid, erucic acid and equivalents andderivatives thereof, and in other embodiments, the unsaturated fattyacid is selected from linoleic acid, oleic acid, arachidonic acid or aderivative thereof. In still other embodiments, the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid may be, for example, a glycolipid, aglycerolipid, a phospholipid and a cholesterol ester.

In some embodiments, the at least one electron withdrawing group may bepositioned at C-9, C-10, C-12, C-13 or a combination thereof, and inother embodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid mayinclude one or more non-carbon-carbon linkage selected from an esterlinkage, an ether linkage, a vinyl ether linkage or a combinationthereof.

In various embodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing group maybe, for example, aldehyde (—COH), acyl (—COR), carbonyl (—CO),carboxylic acid (—COOH), ester (—COOR), halides (—Cl, —F, —Br, —I),fluoromethyl (—CF_(n)), allyl fluoride (—CH═CHCH₂F), cyano (—CN),sulfoxide (—SOR), sulfonyl (—SO₂R), sulfonic acid (—SO₃H), and 1°, 2°and 3° ammonium (—NR₃ ⁺), wherein R is a hydrogen, methyl or C₂-C₆alkyl. In some embodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing groupmay be positioned on an alpha carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond ofthe unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid. In other embodiments, theone or more electron withdrawing group may be positioned on a betacarbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid, and in still other embodiments, the one ormore electron withdrawing group is positioned on a gamma carbon of acarbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fattyacid. In yet other embodiments, the at least one of the one or moreelectron withdrawing group may be an electron withdrawing vinyl group oran electron withdrawing allylic group.

In certain embodiments, a carbon-carbon double bond associated with theone or more electron withdrawing group may be in cis configuration, andin some embodiments, a carbon-carbon double bond associated with the oneor more electron withdrawing group may be in trans configuration. Inother embodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing group may be inan absolute stereochemistry of R at an sp³ chiral/stereogenic center,and in still other embodiments, the one or more electron withdrawinggroup may be in an absolute stereochemistry of S at an sp³chiral/stereogenic center.

A carbon-carbon double bond may occurs at any carbon of the aliphaticchain of the naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fattyacid in various embodiments, of the invention. In some embodiments, theunsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid may be a fatty acid with twoor more conjugated carbon-carbon double bonds, and in other embodiments,at least one of the one or more electron withdrawing group may be at anycarbon in the two or more conjugated carbon-carbon double bonds.

In particular embodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acidhaving one or more electron withdrawing group associated with at leastone double bond or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof mayfurther include a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient. Insome embodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid havingone or more electron withdrawing group associated with at least onedouble bond or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof may furtherinclude one or more of diluents, fillers, disintegrants, binders,lubricants, surfactants, hydrophobic vehicles, water soluble vehicles,emulsifiers, buffers, humectants, moisturizers, solubilizers,antioxidants, preservatives or combinations thereof, and in otherembodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid having one ormore electron withdrawing group associated with at least one double bondor a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof further including apharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient may be formulated as asolid, solution, powder, fluid emulsion, fluid suspension, semi-solid ordry powder.

Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a method for treatinga condition by administering an effective amount of an unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid having one or more electron withdrawing groupassociated with at least one double bond with the proviso that theelectron withdrawing group is not nitro (—NO₂) or a pharmaceuticallyacceptable salt thereof to a subject in need of treatment. In suchembodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing group is selected fromaldehyde (—COH), acyl (—COR), carbonyl (—CO), carboxylic acid (—COOH),ester (—COOR), halides (—Cl, —F, —Br, —I), fluoromethyl allyl fluoride(—CH═CHCH₂F), cyano (—CN), sulfoxide (—SOR), sulfonyl (—SO₂R), sulfonicacid (—SO₃H), and 1°, 2°, and 3° ammonium (—NR₃ ⁺), wherein R is ahydrogen, methyl or C₂-C₆ alkyl. In some embodiments, the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid may include an aliphatic carbon chin havingfrom 12 to 18 carbons, and in other embodiments, the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acid may be a ω-2, ω-3, ω-4, ω-5, ω-6, ω-7, ω-8,or ω-9 fatty acids and equivalents and derivatives thereof. For examplein certain embodiments, the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acidmay be linolenic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentanoic acid,docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, stearidonic acid,myristoleic acid, linoleic acid, gamma-linoleic acid,dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid, arachidonic acid, palmitoleic acid, oleicacid, erucic acid and equivalents and derivatives thereof.

In other embodiments, the one or more electron withdrawing group may bepositioned on an alpha carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of theunsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid. In other embodiments, the oneor more electron withdrawing group may be positioned on a beta carbon ofa carbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fattyacid, and in still other embodiments, the one or more electronwithdrawing group may be positioned on a gamma carbon of a carbon-carbondouble bond of the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid. Inparticular embodiments, at least one of the one or more electronwithdrawing group may be an electron withdrawing vinyl group or anelectron withdrawing allylic group. In some embodiments, a carbon-carbondouble bond associated with the one or more electron withdrawing groupmay be in cis configuration, and in other embodiments, a carbon-carbondouble bond associated with the one or more electron withdrawing groupmay be in trans configuration. In certain embodiments, the effectiveamount may include a mixture of unsaturated or polyunsaturated fattyacids having one or more electron withdrawing group associated with atleast one double bond wherein the mixture includes electron withdrawinggroup positioned on alpha, beta, and gamma carbon of a carbon-carbondouble bonds of the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids.

In various embodiments, the condition may be, but may not be limited to,arterial stenosis, burns, hypertension, obesity, neurodegenerativedisorders, skin disorders, arthritis, autoimmune disease,autoinflammatory disease, lupus, Lyme's disease, gout, sepsis,hyperthermia, ulcers, enterocolitis, osteoporosis, viral or bacterialinfections, cytomegalovirus, periodontal disease, glomerulonephritis,sarcoidosis, lung disease, chronic lung injury, respiratory distress,lung inflammation, fibrosis of the lung, asthma, acquired respiratorydistress syndrome, tobacco induced lung disease, granuloma formation,fibrosis of the liver, graft vs. host disease, postsurgicalinflammation, coronary and peripheral vessel restenosis followingangioplasty, stent placement or bypass graft, acute and chronicleukemia, B lymphocyte leukemia, neoplastic diseases, arteriosclerosis,atherosclerosis, myocardial inflammation, psoriasis, immunodeficiency,disseminated intravascular coagulation, systemic sclerosis, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer'sdisease, encephalomyelitis, edema, inflammatory bowel disease, hyper IgEsyndrome, cancer metastasis or growth, adoptive immune therapy,reperfusion syndrome, radiation burns, and alopecia.

Other embodiments of the invention are directed to a method for treatinga condition comprising administering an effective amount of a naturallyor non-naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acidhaving one or more electron withdrawing group, at least one heteroatomand/or at least one carbon-carbon double bond or a pharmaceuticallyacceptable salt thereof to a subject in need of treatment. In someembodiments, the condition may include, but may not be limited toarterial stenosis, burns, hypertension, obesity, neurodegenerativedisorders, skin disorders, arthritis, autoimmune disease,autoinflammatory disease, lupus, Lyme's disease, gout, sepsis,hyperthermia, ulcers, enterocolitis, osteoporosis, viral or bacterialinfections, cytomegalovirus, periodontal disease, glomerulonephritis,sarcoidosis, lung disease, chronic lung injury, respiratory distress,lung inflammation, fibrosis of the lung, asthma, acquired respiratorydistress syndrome, tobacco induced lung disease, granuloma formation,fibrosis of the liver, graft vs. host disease, postsurgicalinflammation, coronary and peripheral vessel restenosis followingangioplasty, stem placement or bypass graft, acute and chronic leukemia,B lymphocyte leukemia, neoplastic diseases, arteriosclerosis,atherosclerosis, myocardial inflammation, psoriasis, immunodeficiency,disseminated intravascular coagulation, systemic sclerosis, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer'sdisease, encephalomyelitis, edema, inflammatory bowel disease, hyper IgEsyndrome, cancer metastasis or growth, adoptive immune therapy,reperfusion syndrome, radiation burns, and alopecia.

Various embodiments of the invention are directed to a pharmaceuticalcomposition that may include any of the naturally or non-naturallyoccurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acid having one or moreelectron withdrawing group, at least one heteroatom and/or at least onecarbon-carbon double bond or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereofdescribed herein and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient.In some embodiments, such pharmaceutical compositions may furtherinclude one or more of diluents, fillers, disintegrants, binders,lubricants, surfactants, hydrophobic vehicles, water soluble vehicles,emulsifiers, buffers, humectants, moisturizers, solubilizers,antioxidants, preservatives or combinations thereof. In otherembodiments, the pharmaceutical composition may be formulated as, forexample, a solid, solution, powder, fluid emulsion, fluid suspension,semi-solid or dry powder.

Yet other embodiments of the invention include methods for preparing anaturally or non-naturally occurring, unsaturated or polyunsaturatedfatty acid having one or more electron withdrawing group, at least oneheteroatom and/or at least one carbon-carbon double bond or apharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Not applicable

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present compositions and methods are described, it is to beunderstood that this invention is not limited to the particularprocesses, compositions, or methodologies described, as these may vary.It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the descriptionis for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodimentsonly, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present inventionwhich will be limited only by the appended claims. Unless definedotherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the samemeaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to thosedescribed herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodimentsof the present invention, the preferred methods, devices, and materialsare now described. All publications mentioned herein are incorporated byreference in their entirety. Nothing herein is to be construed as anadmission that the invention is not entitled to antedate such disclosureby virtue of prior invention.

It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims,the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural reference unlessthe context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference toa “cell” is a reference to one or more cells and equivalents thereofknown to those skilled in the art, and so forth.

As used herein, the term “about” means plus or minus 10% of thenumerical value of the number with which it is being used. Therefore,about 50% means in the range of 45%-55%.

“Administering” when used in conjunction with a therapeutic means toadminister a therapeutic directly into or onto a target tissue or toadminister a therapeutic to a patient, whereby the therapeuticpositively impacts the tissue to which it is targeted. Thus, as usedherein, the term “administering”, when used in conjunction with anitrated lipid can include, but is not limited to, providing a nitratedlipid to a subject systemically by, for example, intravenous injection,whereby the therapeutic reaches the target tissue. “Administering” acomposition may be accomplished by, for example, injection, oraladministration, topical administration, or by these methods incombination with other known techniques. Such combination techniquesinclude heating, radiation, ultrasound and the use of delivery agents.

The term “animal” as used herein includes, but is not limited to, humansand non-human vertebrates such as wild, domestic and farm animals.

The term “improves” is used to convey that the present invention changeseither the characteristics and/or the physical attributes of the tissueto which it is being provided, applied or administered. The term“improves” may also be used in conjunction with a diseased state suchthat when a diseased state is “improved” the symptoms or physicalcharacteristics associated with the diseased state are diminished,reduced or eliminated.

The term “inhibiting” includes the administration of a compound of thepresent invention to prevent the onset of the symptoms, alleviating thesymptoms, or eliminating the disease, condition or disorder.

By “pharmaceutically acceptable”, it is meant the carrier, diluent orexcipient must be compatible with the other ingredients of theformulation and not deleterious to the recipient thereof.

As used herein, the term “therapeutic” means an agent utilized to treat,combat, ameliorate, prevent or improve an unwanted condition or diseaseof a patient. In part, embodiments of the present invention are directedto the treatment of inflammation, obesity-related diseases, metabolicdiseases, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular and neurodegenerativediseases, cancer or the aberrant proliferation of cells.

A “therapeutically effective amount” or “effective amount” of acomposition is a predetermined amount calculated to achieve the desiredeffect, i.e., to inhibit, block, or reverse the activation, migration,or proliferation of cells. The activity contemplated by the presentmethods includes both medical therapeutic and/or prophylactic treatment,as appropriate. The specific dose of a compound administered accordingto this invention to obtain therapeutic and/or prophylactic effectswill, of course, be determined by the particular circumstancessurrounding the case, including, for example, the compound administered,the route of administration, and the condition being treated. However,it will be understood that the effective amount administered will bedetermined by the physician in the light of the relevant circumstancesincluding the condition to be treated, the choice of compound to beadministered, and the chosen route of administration, and therefore, theabove dosage ranges are not intended to limit the scope of the inventionin any way. A therapeutically effective amount of compound of thisinvention is typically an amount such that when it is administered in aphysiologically tolerable excipient composition, it is sufficient toachieve an effective systemic concentration or local concentration inthe tissue.

The terms “treat,” “treated,” or “treating” as used herein refers toboth therapeutic treatment and prophylactic or preventative measures,wherein the object is to prevent or slow down (lessen) an undesiredphysiological condition, disorder or disease, or to obtain beneficial ordesired clinical results. For the purposes of this invention, beneficialor desired clinical results include, but are not limited to, alleviationof symptoms; diminishment of the extent of the condition, disorder ordisease; stabilization (i.e., not worsening) of the state of thecondition, disorder or disease; delay in onset or slowing of theprogression of the condition, disorder or disease; amelioration of thecondition, disorder or disease state; and remission (whether partial ortotal), whether detectable or undetectable, or enhancement orimprovement of the condition, disorder or disease. Treatment includeseliciting a clinically significant response without excessive levels ofside effects. Treatment also includes prolonging survival as compared toexpected survival if not receiving treatment.

Generally speaking, the term “tissue” refers to any aggregation ofsimilarly specialized cells which are united in the performance of aparticular function.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenously generated, lipophilic signalingmolecule that has been implicated in the maintenance of vascularhomeostasis, modulation of oxygen radical reactions, inflammatory cellfunction, post-translational protein modification and regulation of geneexpression. In addition, nitric oxide-derived species display separateand unique pharmacological properties, specifically can mediateoxidation and nitration of biomolecules such as, for example,unsaturated fatty acids.

Various reactions yield products capable of concerted oxidation,nitrosation and nitration of target molecules. For example, nitric oxidemay react with superoxide (O₂ ⁻) to yield peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) and itsconjugate acid, peroxynitritrous acid (ONOOH), the latter of which mayundergo homolytic scission to form nitrogen dioxide (.NO₂) and hydroxylradical (.OH). In some instances, biological conditions may favor thereaction of ONOO⁻ with CO₂ which yields nitrosoperoxycarbonate (ONOOCO₂⁻), which rapidly yields .NO₂ and carbonate (.C₃ ⁻) radicals viahomolysis or rearrangement to NO₃ ⁻ and CO₂. During inflammation,neutrophil myeloperoxidase and heme proteins such as myoglobin andcytochrome c catalyze H₂O₂-dependent oxidation of nitrite (NO₂ ⁻) to .NO₂ resulting in biomolecule oxidation and nitration that is influencedby the spatial distribution of catalytic heme proteins. The reaction of.NO with O₂ can also produce products that can be substrates orreactants for nitrosation and nitration. For example, the smallmolecular radius, uncharged nature and lipophilicity of .NO and O₂facilitate concentration of these species in biological membranes in aprocess referred to as the “molecular lens” effect. The increase inconcentration induced by .NO and O₂ solvation in hydrophobic cellcompartments accelerates the normally slow reaction of .NO with O₂ toyield N₂O₃ and N₂O₄. Finally, environmental sources also yield .NO₂ as aproduct of photochemical air pollution and tobacco smoke.

Nitration of fatty acids by .NO₂ can occur through several methods. Forexample, during both basal cell signaling and tissue inflammatoryconditions, .NO₂ can react with membrane and lipoprotein lipids. In bothin vivo and in vitro systems, .NO₂ has been shown to initiate radicalchain auto-oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids via hydrogenabstraction from the bis-allylic carbon to form nitrous acid and aresonance-stabilized bis-allylic radical. Depending on the radicalenvironment, the lipid radical species can react with molecular oxygento form a peroxyl radical, which can react further to form lipidhydroperoxides then oxidized lipids. During inflammation or ischemia,when O₂ levels are lower, lipid radicals can react to an even greaterextent with .NO₂ to generate multiple nitration products includingsingly nitrated, nitrohydroxy- and dinitro-fatty acid adducts. Theseproducts can be generated via hydrogen abstraction, direct addition of.NO₂ across the double bond, or both, and in some cases, such reactionsmay be followed by further reactions of the intermediate products thatare formed. Hydrogen abstraction causes a rearrangement of the doublebonds to form a conjugated diene; however, the addition of .NO₂maintains a methylene-interrupted diene configuration to yield singlynitrated polyunsaturated fatty acids. This arrangement is similar tonitration products generated by the nitronium ion (NO₂ ⁺), which can beproduced by ONOO⁻ reaction with heme proteins or via secondary productsof CO₂ reaction with ONOO⁻.

The reaction of polyunsaturated fatty acids with acidified nitrite(HNO₂) can generate a complex mixture of products similar to thoseformed by direct reaction with .NO₂, including the formation of singlynitrated products that maintain the bis-allylic bond arrangement. Theacidification of NO₂ ⁻ can create a labile species, HNO₂, which is inequilibrium with secondary products, including N₂O₃, .NO and .NO₂, allof which can participate in nitration reactions. The relevance of thispathway as a mechanism of fatty acid nitration is exemplified byphysiological and pathological conditions wherein NO₂ ⁻ is exposed tolow pH (e.g., <pH 4.0). This may conceivably occur in the gastriccompartment, following endosomal or phagolysosomal acidification or intissues following-post ischemic reperfusion.

Nitrated linoleic acid (LNO₂) has been shown to display robust cellsignaling activities that are generally anti-inflammatory in nature.Synthetic LNO₂ can inhibit human platelet function via cAMP-dependentmechanisms and inhibits neutrophil O₂ ⁻ generation, calcium influx,elastase release, CD11b expression and degranulation via non-cAMP,non-cGMP-dependent mechanisms. LNO₂ may also induce vessel relaxation inpart via cGMP-dependent mechanisms. In aggregate, these data, derivedfrom a synthetic fatty acid infer that nitro derivatives of fatty acids(NO₂—FA) represent a novel class of lipid-derived signaling mediators.To date, a gap in the clinical detection and structural characterizationof nitrated fatty acids has limited defining NO₂—FA derivatives asbiologically-relevant lipid signaling mediators that converge .NO andoxygenated lipid signaling pathways.

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to activated fattyacids and, in particular, activated saturated or unsaturated fatty acidshaving at least one heteroatom interrupting the aliphatic chain of thefatty acid. As used herein an “activated fatty acid” refers to a fattyacid having at least one electron withdrawing group covalently bound toa carbon of the saturated or unsaturated aliphatic chain of a fattyacid. Such activated fatty acids may be substituted by any number ofelectron withdrawing groups at any number of positions on thehydrocarbon chain and such electron withdrawing groups may or may not beassociated with a carbon-carbon double bond of an unsaturated fattyacid, a heteroatom, or a combination thereof. In various embodiments, atleast one heteroatom of an activated fatty acid may be positionedadjacent to a carbon having an attached electron-withdrawing group, orat least one carbon-carbon double bond may be associated with anelectron-withdrawing group. For example, in some embodiments, theactivated fatty acids may include one or more heteroatoms on a saturatedaliphatic chain, and an electron withdrawing group may be associatedwith a carbon adjacent to at least one of the one or more heteroatoms.In other embodiments, the activated fatty acid may include one or moreheteroatoms and or one or more double bonds and an electron withdrawinggroup may be associated with either a carbon adjacent to at least one ofthe one or more heteroatoms, or at least one of the one or more doublebonds, or both. Thus, in some embodiment, an activated fatty acid mayhave one electron-withdrawing group, and in other embodiments, anactivated fatty acid may be substituted with multiple electronwithdrawing groups at multiple positions along the hydrocarbon chain andadjacent to any combination of heteroatoms and/or double bonds.

In such embodiments, the electron-withdrawing group may be positioned ona carbon directly adjacent to a heteroatom to form an “electronwithdrawing heteroatom” or a carbon directly attached to a double bondof the activated fatty acid forming an “electron withdrawing vinyl”group. The electron withdrawing group of such electron withdrawingheteroatoms or electron withdrawing vinyl groups may be on either sideof the heteroatom or double bond such that the electron withdrawinggroup may be in either cis or trans configuration at a double bond or ineither R or S absolute stereochemistry at an sp³ chiral/stereogeniccenter.

In various embodiments, the heteroatom of an electron withdrawingheteroatoms may be any heteroatom known in the art. For example, theheteroatom of some embodiments may be an oxygen, a sulfur, or anitrogen, and in particular embodiments, each heteroatom may be a sulfuror an oxygen. In still other embodiments, the heteroatom may be asulfinyl (i.e., S═O). The heteroatom containing activated fatty acidsencompassed by embodiments may have one or more heteroatoms at anyposition along the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain and as such, may have oneor more electron withdrawing heteroatoms at any position along thealiphatic hydrocarbon chain. In other embodiments, heteroatom containingfatty acids, with 3, 4, 5, 6 or more heteroatoms, can have an electronwithdrawing group on either carbon adjacent to any one heteroatom or acombination of heteroatoms or all of the heteroatoms. Thus, embodimentsinclude all possible permutations of positions and electron-withdrawinggroups available for each heteroatom containing fatty acid.

For example, in some exemplary embodiments, an activated 18 carbon fattyacid, may have a heteroatom replacing the 10^(th) (C-9) carbon, i.e.,(E)-9-(pentylthio)dodecanoic acid or (E)-9-(pentyloxy)-dodecannoic acid,and an electron withdrawing group may be positioned at C-8 or C-10 orboth. In other embodiments, an activated 18 carbon fatty acid may haveheteroatoms replacing the 6^(th) (C-12) carbon and the 10^(th) (C-9)carbon, to provide, for example, 9-(2-(pentylthio)ethylthio)nonanoicacid, 9-(2-(pentyloxy)ethyloxy)nonanoic acid,9-(2-(pentyloxy)ethylthio)nonanoic acid,9-(2-(pentylthio)ethyloxy)nonanoic acid, and the like, and an electronwithdrawing group may be positioned at any one or all of C-8, C-10,C-11, C-13, or combinations thereof. In yet other embodiments, an oleicacid may be couple to a thio or oxy carbonate, acetic acid, propionicacid, or butanoic acid derivatives of oleic acid. For example,embodiments include 3-(8-(octylthio)octylthio)propanoic acid,3-(8-(octyloxy)octylthio)propanoic acid,3-(8-(octylthio)octyloxy)propanoic acid,3-(8-(octylthio)octylsulfinyl)propanoic acid and the like where aheteroatom replaces C-9 of an 18 carbon acid and an thiopropionic acid,oxypropionic acid, or sulfinylpropionic acid replaces the carboxyterminus. In such embodiments, an electron withdrawing group may bepositioned at C-1, C-9, C-10, or the 2 position of the propionic acid orcombinations thereof. Certain embodiments include 18 carbon fatty acidshaving two heteroatoms replacing, for example, C-9 and C-12 having atleast one electron withdrawing group at C-8, C-10, C-11, C-13 orcombinations there, and sill other embodiments, 20 or 22 carbon fattyacids having any number of heteroatoms replacing carbons on thealiphatic chains each having at least one electron withdrawing grouppositioned at a carbon adjacent to the heteroatom. In yet otherembodiments, the heteroatom containing activated fatty acids describedabove may be cholesterol fatty acids.

In the case of electron withdrawing vinyl groups, fatty acidsencompassed by embodiments may have one or more than one electronwithdrawing vinyl groups at any carbon on the aliphatic hydrocarbonchain, and there are several ways that an unsaturated fatty acid canhave one electron-withdrawing group. For example, in some exemplaryembodiments, an activated oleic acid (octadec-12-enoic acid) which is an18 carbon, ω-6 fatty acid with one double bond (denoted “18:1”) betweenthe 6^(th) (C-13) and 7^(th) (C-12) carbons, may have an electronwithdrawing group at either C-13 or C-12. In other exemplaryembodiments, an activated linoleic acid (octadeac-9,12,-dienoic acid),which is an 18 carbon, ω-6 fatty acid with two double bonds (denoted“18:2”) between the 6^(th) (C-13) and 7^(th) (C-12) carbons and the9^(th) (C-10) and 10^(th) (C-9) carbons, may have an electronwithdrawing group at C-9 or C-10 or C-12 or C-13. In still otherembodiments, an activated linoleic acid may have an electron withdrawinggroup at either C-9 or C-10 and C-12 or C-13, and in certainembodiments, an activated linoleic acid may have electron withdrawinggroups at C-9 and C-10 and/or C-12 and C-13. In other embodiments,double bond containing fatty acids, with 3, 4, 5, 6 or more doublebonds, can have an electron withdrawing group on either carbon of anyone double bond or combination of double bonds or all of the doublebonds. Thus, embodiments include all possible permutations of positionsand electron-withdrawing groups available for each heteroatom containingfatty acid.

In analogy to the preceding descriptions of compounds with oneelectron-withdrawing group or two electron-withdrawing groups, it isalso possible to have three, four, five or more electron withdrawinggroups. Following the same logic in the preceding descriptions ofcompounds with one electron-withdrawing group or twoelectron-withdrawing groups, multiple heteroatom containing fatty acids,with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or more heteroatoms, and polyunsaturated fattyacids, with 3, 4, 5, 6 or more double bonds, can have multiple electronwithdrawing (three, four, five or more, as available positions forsubstitution permit) at any of the positions on any of the carbonsadjacent to heteroatoms or double bond carbons, including all possiblepermutations of positions and electron-withdrawing groups. Additionally,in any embodiments such as those described above, any number ofnon-electron-withdrawing groups may be covalently bound to carbons ofthe aliphatic chain of the activated fatty acid. For example, in someembodiments, the activated fatty acids of the invention may include oneor more methyl, C₂-C₆ alkyl, alkenyl, or alkynyl or amino covalentlyattached to one or more carbons of the aliphatic chain of an activatedfatty acid.

In particular embodiments, an activated fatty acid may have combinationsof heteroatoms and double bonds. Thus, embodiments of the inventionencompass activated fatty acids having one or more heteroatoms and oneor more carbon-carbon doubles and one or more electron withdrawinggroups at a carbon adjacent to a heteroatom or associated with a carbonof the carbon-carbon double bond or combinations thereof. For example,in some exemplary embodiments, an oleic acid may have a heteroatom atthe 9^(th) carbon (C-10) and a double bond at the 6^(th) carbon (C-12),i.e., 9-(oct-2-enylthio)nonanoic acid or 9-(oct-2-enyloxy)nonanoic acid,or a heteroatom at the 6^(th) carbon (C-12) and a double bond 9^(th)carbon (C-10), i.e., 12-(pentylthio)dodec-9-enoic acid or12-(pentyloxy)dodec-9-enoic acid and an electron with drawing group maybe positioned on either carbon adjacent to the heteroatom and/or eithercarbon of the carbon-carbon double bond, both carbons adjacent to theheteroatom and/or both carbons of the carbon-carbon double bond, or anycombination thereof. Similarly, in other embodiments, multipleheteroatom and double bond containing fatty acids, with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,or more heteroatoms and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more double bonds, can havemultiple electron withdrawing (three, four, five or more, as availablepositions for substitution permit) at any of the positions on any of thecarbons adjacent to heteroatoms or double bond carbons, including allpossible permutations of positions and electron-withdrawing groups. Instill other embodiments, an activated fatty acid may have one heteroatomand 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more double bonds, and in still furtherembodiments, an activated fatty acid may have one double bond and 2, 3,4, 5, 6 or more heteroatoms, so long as at least one heteroatom is anelectron withdrawing heteroatom or double bond at least one double bondis an electron withdrawing vinyl group.

In certain embodiments, a heteroatom of the activated fatty acid may belocated at within, for example, the first 1, 2, 3, or 4 carbons from thecarboxy terminus of the fatty acid to produce a carbonate, acetic acid,propionic acid, or butanoic acid derivatives of the activated fattyacid. For example, in some embodiments, a 18 carbon, or any length,aliphatic hydrocarbon chain may be associated with a mercaptoacetic acidor hydroxyacetic acid to produce an octadecylthioacetic acid or anoctadecyloxyacetic acid, and an electron withdrawing group may beassociated with one or both of the carbons adjacent to the heteroatom.In other embodiments, the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain may include one ormore double bond, and in certain embodiments, at least one of thesedouble bonds may include an electron withdrawing group associated withone or both carbons of the double bonds to produce an electronwithdrawing vinyl group. In still other embodiments, the aliphaticcarbon chain may include one or more additional heteroatoms, and in someembodiments, at least one of the additional heteroatoms may be anelectron withdrawing heteroatom. In yet other embodiments, the aliphaticchain may include one or more double bonds and one or more additionalheteroatoms and, in some embodiments, any one or any combination of thedouble bonds or additional heteroatoms may be an electron withdrawingvinyl group or an electron withdrawing heteroatom.

In particular embodiments, the heteroatom associated with the carbonate,acetic acid, propionic acid, or butanoic acid may not include anassociated electron withdrawing group, and therefore the aliphatichydrocarbon chain associated with the thio- or oxy-carbonate, aceticacid, propionic acid, or butanoic acid should include at least oneelectron withdrawing vinyl group or at least one electron withdrawingheteroatom. For example, in some embodiments, an octadecylthioaceticacid or an octadecyloxyacetic acid may have one or more double bondincluded within the 18 carbon aliphatic hydrocarbon chain and at leastone of these double bonds may be an electron withdrawing vinyl group. Inother embodiments, an octadecylthioacetic acid or an octadecyloxyaceticacid may have one or more additional heteroatoms included within the 18carbon aliphatic hydrocarbon chain and at least one of these additionalheteroatoms may be an electron withdrawing heteroatom. In still otherembodiments, an octadecylthioacetic acid or an octadecyloxyacetic acidmay have one or more double bond and one or more additional heteroatomincluded within the 18 carbon aliphatic hydrocarbon chain and at leastone of these double bonds or heteroatoms may be an electron withdrawingvinyl group or an electron withdrawing heteroatom. As indicated above,numerous permutations of such compounds encompassing variouscombinations of double bonds, heteroatoms, electron withdrawing vinylgroups, electron withdrawing heteroatoms associated with aliphaticchains of various lengths can be envisioned based on these exemplaryembodiments and are encompassed by the invention.

For example, in some exemplary embodiments, an activated 18 carbon fattyacid, i.e., oleic acid, may have a heteroatom replacing the 6^(th)carbon (C-12) on the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain and a double bond atthe 10^(th) (C-9) carbon, i.e., (E)-12-(pentylthio)dodec-9-enoic acid or(E)-12-(pentyloxy)-dodec-9-enoic acid, and an electron withdrawing grouppositioned at C-7, C-8, C-9, C-10, C-11 or C-13 or combinations thereof.In other embodiments, an oleic acid may have heteroatoms replacing the6^(th) (C-12) carbon and the carbon 1, 2, 3, or 4 and a double bond atthe 10^(th) (C-9) carbon, to provide, for example,(E)-3-(8-(pentylthio)oct-5-enylthio)propanoic acid,(E)-3-(8-(pentyloxy)oct-5-enyloxy)propanoic acid,(E)-3-(8-(pentylthio)oct-5-enyloxy)propanoic acid,(E)-3-(8-(pentyloxy)oct-5-enylthio)propanoic acid and the like, and anelectron withdrawing group may be positioned at any one or all of C-8,C-10, C-11, C-7, C-13, C-1, or C-2. In yet other embodiments, an oleicacid may be couple to a thio or oxy carbonate, acetic acid, propionicacid, or butanoic acid derivatives of oleic acid. For example,embodiments include (E)-2-(11-(pentylthio)undec-8-enylthio)acetic acidand (E)-2-(11-(pentyloxy)undec-8-enylthio)acetic acid where a heteroatomreplaces C-12 of an oleic acid with a carbon-carbon double bond at C-9and an thioacetic acid replaces the carboxy terminus. In suchembodiments, an electron withdrawing group may be positioned at C-7,C-8, C-9, C-10, C-11 or C-13 or combinations thereof. In certainembodiments, any of the oleic acids described above having at least oneheteroatom may be cholesterol oleic acids.

Still other embodiments, include linoleic acid derivatives having atleast one heteroatom or gamma linoleic acid derivatives having at leastone heteroatom, and the heteroatoms and electron withdrawing groups maybe arranged as described for oleic acid. For example, embodimentsinclude (9E,12E)-14-(propylthio)tetradeca-9,12-dienoic acid,(9E,12E)-14-(propyloxy)tetradeca-9,12-dienoic acid,6-((2E,5E)-undeca-2,5-dienylthio)hexanoic acid,(E)-10-((E)-hept-1-enylthio)dec-9-enoic acid,(E)-10-((E)-hept-1-enyloxy)dec-9-enoic acid,6-((2E,5E)-undeca-2,5-dienyloxy)hexanoic acid, and6-((2E,5E)-7-(propylthio)hepta-2,5-dienylthio)hexanoic acid each havingelectron withdrawing groups at least one carbon of a carbon-carbondouble bond or the carbon adjacent to the carbon of a carbon-carbondouble bond or a carbon adjacent to a heteroatom, and combinationsthereof. Other exemplary embodiments include gamma linoleic acids(6E,9E,12E)-14-(propylthio)tetradeca-6,9,12-trienoic acid,(6E,9E,12E)-14-(propyloxy)tetradeca-6,9,12-trienoic acid,(6E,9E)-10-((E)-hept-1-enylthio)deca-6,9-dienoic acid,(6E,9E)-10-((E)-hept-1-enyloxy)deca-6,9-dienoic acid,2-((3E,6E,9E)-pentadeca-3,6,9-trienylthio)acetic acid,2-((3E,6E,9E)-pentadeca-3,6,9-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((3E,6E,9E)-1′-(propylthio)undeca-3,6,9-trienylthio)acetic acid,2-((3E,6E,9E)-1′-(propyloxy)undeca-3,6,9-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((3E,6E,9E)-11-(propyloxy)undeca-3,6,9-trienylthio)acetic acid and thelike each having electron withdrawing groups at least one carbon of acarbon-carbon double bond or the carbon adjacent to the carbon of acarbon-carbon double bond or a carbon adjacent to a heteroatom, andcombinations thereof. In yet other embodiments, linoleic acid and gammalinoleic acids may have a heteroatom that was introduced by couplinglinoleic acid or gamma linoleic acids to a thio or oxy carbonate, aceticacid, propionic acid, or butanoic acid. For example, embodiments,include 3-((8E,11E)-13-(propylthio)trideca-8,11-dienylthio)propanoicacid, 3-((8E,11E)-13-(propyloxy)trideca-8,11-dienylthio)propanoic acid,3-((5E,8E,11E)-13-(propylthio)trideca-5,8,11-trienylthio)propanoic acid,3-((5E,8E,11E)-13-(propyloxy)trideca-5,8,11-trienylthio)propanoic acid,3-((5E,8E,11E)-13-(propylthio)trideca-5,8,11-trienylsulfinyl)propanoicacid,3-((5E,8E,11E)-13-(propyloxy)trideca-5,8,11-trienylsulfinyl)propanoicacid, and the like each having electron withdrawing groups at least onecarbon of a carbon-carbon double bond or the carbon adjacent to thecarbon of a carbon-carbon double bond or a carbon adjacent to aheteroatom, and combinations thereof. In certain embodiments, any of thelinoleic acids and gamma linoleic acids described above having at leastone heteroatom may be cholesterol oleic acids.

Further embodiments, include arachidonic acids, eicosapentaenoic acid,and docosahexanoic acids having at least one heteroatom replacing acarbon of the aliphatic chain, and still further embodiments, includearachidonic acids, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexanoic acids thathave been coupled to a thio or oxy carbonate, acetic acid, propionicacid, or butanoic acid to introduce a heteroatom. In each suchembodiments, one or more electron withdrawing groups may be positionedat least one carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond or the carbonadjacent to the carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond or a carbonadjacent to a heteroatom, and combinations thereof.

While the exemplary compounds described above show double bonds in the Econformation, embodiments of the invention encompass activated fattyacids having double bonds in the Z conformation or in any combination ofE and Z conformations.

The term “electron-withdrawing group” is recognized in the art anddenotes the tendency of a substituent to attract valence electrons fromneighboring atoms, i.e., the substituent is electronegative with respectto neighboring atoms. A quantification of the level ofelectron-withdrawing capability is given by the Hammett sigma (σ)constant (see, e.g., J. March, Advanced Organic Chemistry, McGraw HillBook Company, New York, (1977 edition) pp. 251-259). The Hammettconstant values are generally negative for electron donating groups andpositive for electron withdrawing groups. For example the Hammetconstant for para substituted NH₂ (σ[P]) is about −0.7 and the σ[P] fora nitro group is about 0.8.

Embodiments of the invention encompass any known electron withdrawinggroup. For example, electron-withdrawing groups may include, but are notlimited to, aldehyde (—COH) acyl (—COR), carbonyl (—CO), carboxylic acid(—COOH), ester (—COOR), halides (—Cl, —F, —Br, etc.), fluoromethyl(—CF_(n)), cyano (—CN), sulfonyl (—SO_(n)), sulfone (—SO₂R), sulfonicacid (—SO₃H), 1°, 2° and 3° ammonium (—NR₃ ⁺), and nitro(—NO₂) whereeach R may, independently, be hydrogen, methyl, or C₂ to C₆ alkyl,alkenyl, or alkynyl. In some embodiments, the electron withdrawing groupmay be a strong electron withdrawing group having a σ of at least about0.2, and in certain embodiments, the electron withdrawing group may forma dipole. For example, in particular embodiments, the electronwithdrawing group may be a nitro, ammonium or sulfonyl. In otherembodiments, the activated fatty acids of the invention may beadditionally substituted by non-electron withdrawing groups or electrondonating groups including, for example, alcohol (—OH), reverse ester(—OOCR), alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, 1° and 2° amines (—NR₂), nitrate(—ONO₂), nitrito (—ONO) and the like.

The fatty acids of embodiments may be any unsaturated andpolyunsaturated fatty acid known in the art. The term “fatty acid”describes aliphatic monocarboxylic acids. Various embodiments includeactivated fatty acids having an aliphatic hydrocarbon chain identical orsimilar to identified, naturally occurring fatty acids. For example,aliphatic hydrocarbon chains of known naturally occurring fatty acidsare generally unbranched and contain an even number of from about 4 toabout 24 carbons, and others include fatty acids having from 12 to 18carbons in the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain. In still other embodiments,fatty acids may have greater than 24 carbons in the aliphatichydrocarbon chain. Embodiments of the invention encompass such naturallyoccurring fatty acids as well as naturally or non-naturally occurringfatty acids, which may contain an odd number of carbons and/or anaturally or non-naturally occurring linker. Thus, some embodiments ofthe invention include fatty acids having an odd number of carbons of,for example, from 5 to 23 carbons, and in other embodiments, from 11 to17 carbons. In yet other embodiments, the fatty acids of embodiments mayhave greater than 23 carbons. The naturally and naturally ornon-naturally occurring fatty acids of the invention may also bebranched at one or more location along the hydrocarbon chain, and invarious embodiments, each branch may include an aliphatic hydrocarbonchain of from 1 to 24 carbons, 2 to 20 carbons or 4 to 18 carbonswherein each branch may have an even or odd number of carbons.

The aliphatic hydrocarbon chain of fatty acids of various embodimentsmay be unsaturated or polyunsaturated. The term “unsaturated” refers toa fatty acid having a aliphatic hydrocarbon chain that includes at leastone double bond and/or substituent. In contrast, a “saturated”hydrocarbon chain does not include any double bonds or substituents.Thus, each carbon of the hydrocarbon chain is ‘saturated’ and has themaximum number of hydrogens. “Polyunsaturated,” generally, refers tofatty acids having hydrocarbon chains with more than one double bond.The double bonds of the unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids ofvarious embodiments may be at any location along the aliphatichydrocarbon chain and may be in either cis or trans configuration. Theterm “cis,” refers to a double bond in which carbons adjacent to thedouble bond are on the same side and the term “trans” refers to a doublebond in which carbons adjacent to the double bond are on opposite sides.Typically “cis” is the same as Z, and “trans” is the same as E butsometimes the IUPAC rules for naming compounds will give the opposite ofthis, which is the typical case in nitroalkenes. For example, anitroalkene can have the two carbon groups “cis” but the two groups thattake priority for the naming of compounds (a nitro group on one carbonof the alkene and a carbon group on the other carbon of the alkene) areon opposite sides and thus are E. Therefore the nitroalkene analog of a“cis” double bond is actually an E nitroalkene. Similarly, thenitroalkene analog of a “trans” double bond is actually a Z nitroalkene.Without wishing to be bound by theory, double bonds in cis configurationalong the carbon chain (cis carbon chain but E nitroalkene) may induce abend in the hydrocarbon chain. Double bonds in “trans,” configurationalong the carbon chain (trans carbon chain but Z nitroalkene) may notcause the hydrocarbon chain to bend. Embodiments of the invention mayinclude activated fatty acids having double bonds in either cis or transconfiguration, and encompass compositions that may include combinationsof cis and trans containing activated fatty acids and regioisomers ofthe activated fatty acids.

Many unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids have been identifiedand are known to be naturally occurring. Such unsaturated orpolyunsaturated naturally occurring fatty acids, generally, include aneven number of carbons in their aliphatic hydrocarbon chain. Forexample, a naturally occurring unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acidmay have, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and so on carbons and mayinclude omega (ω)-3, ω-5, ω-6, ω-7, ω-9 fatty acids and the like. Anysuch fatty acid may be useful in embodiments of the invention. Thesymbol ‘ω’ is used to refer to the terminal methyl carbon of thealiphatic hydrocarbon chain. The placement of the double bond of the ω-Xfatty acid is the carbon-carbon bond X number of carbons from the ωcarbon. For example, an ω-6 fatty acid has a double bond between the6^(th) and 7^(th) carbons counting backward from the ω carbon and an ω-3fatty acid has a double bond between the 3^(rd) and 4^(th) carbonscounting backward from the w carbon. Various embodiments of theinvention include nitrated ω-3 fatty acids, including, but not limitedto, linolenic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, eicosapentanoic acid,docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexanoic acid and stearidonic acid;nitrated ω-5 fatty acids including, but not limited to, myristoleicacid; nitrated ω-6 fatty acids including, but not limited to, linoleicacid, gamma-linoleic acid, dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid and arachidonicacid; nitrated ω-7 fatty acids including, but not limited to,palmitoleic acid; and nitrated ω-9 fatty acids including, but notlimited to, oleic acid and erucic acid. Of course, the fatty acids ofthe invention may also be referred to using IUPAC nomenclature in whichthe placement of the double bond is determined by counting from thecarbon of the carboxylic acid, and ‘C-X’ denotes the carbon in aliphatichydrocarbons using IUPAC nomenclature wherein X is the number of thecarbon counting from the carboxylic acid. Embodiments of the inventionalso include synthetic equivalents to naturally occurring fatty acidsand derivatives thereof.

In some embodiments, the naturally occurring fatty acids described abovemay be modified to include a heteroatom. For example, a naturallyoccurring 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and so on carbon fattyacid or ω-3, ω-5, ω-6, ω-7, ω-9 fatty acids and the like, may be coupledto a thio- or oxy-carbonate, acetic acid, propionic acid, or butanoicacid. Techniques for preparing such modified fatty acids are known inthe art, and any such method may be used.

Other embodiments of the invention include unsaturated orpolyunsaturated naturally or non-naturally occurring fatty acids whichmay have an odd number of carbons such as, for example, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13,15, 17, 19, 20, 21 and so on. As in naturally occurring fatty acids, theone or more double bonds associated with naturally or non-naturallyoccurring fatty acids may be at any position along the aliphatichydrocarbon chain, and the double bonds may be in either cis or transconfiguration. In yet other embodiments, the naturally or non-naturallyoccurring fatty acids may include one or more linker groups, whichinterrupt the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain. For example, in someembodiments, activated fatty acids may have one or morenon-carbon-carbon linkage such as, for example, ester, ether, vinylether, amino, imine and the like at any position within the aliphatichydrocarbon chain. Similarly, in other embodiments, activatedpolyunsaturated naturally or non-naturally occurring fatty acids mayhave one or more heteroatoms at any position within the aliphatichydrocarbon chain.

Various embodiments of the invention include unsaturated orpolyunsaturated fatty acids that may have a carbon-carbon double bondbetween any two carbons of the aliphatic chain of the fatty acid, andany number of carbon-carbon double bonds may be present in suchpolyunsaturated fatty acids. For example in some embodiments,polyunsaturated fatty acids may have 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more carbon-carbondouble bonds. In such embodiments, each of the more than onecarbon-carbon double bond may individually be in either cis or transconfiguration. In some embodiments, at least one of the carbon-carbondouble bonds of a polyunsaturated fatty acid may have an associatedelectron withdrawing group, and in other embodiments, more than one ofthe carbon-carbon double bonds of such polyunsaturated fatty acids mayhave an associated electron withdrawing group. Additionally, in suchembodiments, the electron withdrawing group may be associated witheither carbon of the carbon-carbon double bond or a carbon directlyadjacent to either carbon of the carbon-carbon double bond. For example,in some embodiments, an electron withdrawing group may be attached tothe alpha (α) carbon of the carbon-carbon double bond, and in otherembodiments, an electron withdrawing group may be associated with thebeta (β) carbon of the carbon-carbon double bond. In still otherembodiments, an electron withdrawing group may be associated with thegamma (γ) carbon, the carbon directly adjacent to, and attached to, acarbon-carbon double bond. In embodiments where a polyunsaturated fattyacid includes two or more carbon-carbon double bonds along the aliphaticchain and an electron withdrawing group is associated with any of thetwo or more carbon-carbon double bonds or each of the two or more of thecarbon-carbon double bonds, each electron withdrawing group may beattached to any carbon associated with each individual carbon-carbondouble bonds. For example, in some embodiments, an electron withdrawinggroup may be associated with each of the double bonds, with the electrongroup attached to either the (α) carbon, the beta (β) carbon or thegamma (γ) carbon of each double bond. In other embodiments, some of thedouble bonds can have an attached electron withdrawing group and some ofthe double bonds will not have attached electron withdrawing groups, andthose double bonds that do have attached electron withdrawing groups canhave electron withdrawing groups attached at either the (α) carbon, thebeta (β) carbon or the gamma (γ) carbon of each double bond. Similarly,in embodiments in which the activated fatty acid includes a heteroatom,an electron withdrawing group may be attached to either of the adjacentcarbon atoms, or within at least one carbon of the carbon immediatelyadjacent to the heteroatom.

In particular embodiments, an unsaturated fatty acid having at least oneelectron withdrawing group may be a conjugated fatty acid. In suchembodiments, two carbon-carbon double bonds in an aliphatic chain areadjacent to one another such that there is no methylene group betweenthem. Such conjugated compounds are commonly called 1,3-dienes, orconjugated fatty acids. Such 1,3-dienes may include one or more electronwithdrawing groups at any of 6 positions, at the 1, 2, 3, and/or 4positions of the 1,3-dienes and at the two carbons adjacent to the diene(at the 0 and 5 positions, in relation to the 1, 2, 3, 4 method ofidentifying carbons in a 1,3-diene). For example, one associatedelectron withdrawing group may be attached to any of the 6 positionsidentified above, that is to either the 1, 2, 3, or 4 positions on thediene or to either of the carbons adjacent to the 1,3-diene (at the 0 or5 positions, as described above). In additional embodiments, twoassociated electron withdrawing groups could be attached to any two ofthe six possible positions, three associated electron withdrawing groupscould be attached to any two of the six possible positions, fourassociated electron withdrawing groups could be attached to any two ofthe six possible positions, five associated electron withdrawing groupscould be attached to any two of the six possible positions, and sixassociated electron withdrawing groups could be attached to any two ofthe six possible positions. In summary, any configuration of electronwithdrawing groups attached to any of the six positions described abovein a 1,3-diene are encompassed by embodiments of the invention.

In certain embodiments, the activated fatty acids of the invention mayundergo an isomerization following preparation such that either thecis/trans configuration of the double bond, the location of the doublebond in the carbon chain, or both, may change. For example, in someembodiments, a activated fatty acid may be prepared with a carbon-carbondouble bond of having an electron withdrawing group attached to a gammacarbon of a carbon-carbon double bond. Following preparation, thecarbon-carbon double bond may undergo an isomerization such that theelectron withdrawing group is now conjugated with the carbon-carbondouble bond after isomerization. Such isomerizations may occurspontaneously at any time following preparation, and may result in acomposition which may have initially been prepared as including a singlespecies of activated fatty acid that subsequently includes a combinationof isomers of the first-prepared activated fatty acid originallyproduced. In other embodiments, an activated fatty acid may be preparedhaving an electron withdrawing group attached to a gamma carbon of acarbon-carbon double bond, and this carbon-carbon double bond mayundergo an isomerization following administration such that an activatedfatty acid is produced having the electron withdrawing group isconjugated with the carbon-carbon double bond.

In still other embodiments, the carboxy-terminal end of the activatedfatty acid may be modified. For example, in some embodiments, the fattyacid may include a glycerol associated with the carboxy-terminal end ofthe fatty acid to create a glycerolipid, and such glycerolipids may bemono-, di-, or tri-glycerides wherein at least one of the fatty acids ofa di- or tri-glyceride may be an activated fatty acid and any remainingfatty acids may be a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid. Similarly, inother embodiments, a carbohydrate may be associated with thecarboxy-terminal end of an activated fatty acid to form a glycolipid. Insuch embodiments, any carbohydrate known in the art may be acarbohydrate moiety of a glycolipid including, but not limited to,galactose and glucose. In yet other embodiments, a carbohydrate may beassociated with a glyceride which is associated with thecarboxy-terminal end of an activated fatty acid to form aglycero-glycolipid, which may have one or two activated fatty acidsassociated with the glycero-portion of the glycero-glycolipid and, inembodiments in which only one activated fatty acid is associated withthe glycero-glycolipid, the remaining position on the glycerol mayinclude a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid or hydrogen, alkyl, or afunctional group such as, for example, alcohol, amine, phosphate,phosphonic acid, thiol, sulfonic acid and the like. In certainembodiments, the carboxy-terminal end of the activated fatty acids ofthe invention may be associated with a phosphate to from a phospholipid.In such embodiments, the phosphate may be directly associated with thefatty acid through the carboxy-terminus, or the phosphate may beassociated with a di-glyceride wherein one or two activated fatty acidsare attached glycerol moiety and, in embodiments where only oneactivated the fatty acid is attached to the glycerol, remaining positionon the glycerol may include a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid orhydrogen, alkyl, or a functional group such as, for example, alcohol,amine, phosphate, phosphonic acid, thiol, sulfonic acid and the like. Infurther embodiments, the carboxy-terminus of the activated fatty acidmay be associated with a cholesterol or other sterol moiety. In yetother embodiments, the carboxy-terminal end may be modified by thecovalent attachment of a secondary active agent. In the particularembodiments, carboxy-terminal modifications including a glycerol may notinclude a nitro group. Without wishing to be bound by theory,modification of the carboxy-terminal end of activated fatty acids mayenhance partitioning of the activated fatty acid after administrationand may also improve resilience of the activated fatty acid byinhibiting beta-oxidation in mitochondria following administration.

For example, embodiments of the invention include compounds of generalformulae I, II, and III:

wherein R₁ and R₂ are independently selected from —H and any electronwithdrawing groups including, but not limited to —COH, —COR, —CO, —COOH,—COOR, —Cl, —F, —Br, —I, —CF₃, —CN, —SO₃ ⁻, —SO₂R, —SO₃H, —NH₃ ⁺,—NH₂R⁺, —NHR₂ ⁺, —NR₃ ⁺ and —NO₂ ⁻ wherein at least one of R₁ and R₂ isan electron withdrawing group, Q is a heteroatom, and m and n are,independently, 1-20. Some embodiments include compounds of generalformulae IV, V, and VI:

wherein R₁, R₂, m and n are as described above, R₃ and R₄ are,independently, selected from —H, —COH, —COR, —CO, —COOH, —COOR, —Cl, —F,—Br, —I, —CF₃, —CN, —SO₃ ⁻, —SO₂R, —SO₃H, —NH₃ ⁺, —NH₂R⁺, —NHR₂ ⁺, —NR₃⁺, and —NO₂ ⁻, k and p are, independently, 0 to 5 and x, y, and z areindependently, 0 to 3, and wherein each double bond is in either cis ortrans configuration. In still other embodiments, any carbon associatedwith m, n, k or p may be substituted.

Compounds encompassed by the formulae described above include, but arenot limited to, (E)-9-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-10-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-8-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-1′-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-10-acetyloctadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-9-aceto-octadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-11-aceto-octadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-8-aceto-octadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-10-chloro-octadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-9-chloro-octadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-11-chloro-octadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-8-chloro-octadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-10-sulfonyloctadec-9-enoic acid,(E)-9-sulfonyloctadec-9-enoic acid, (E)-1′-sulfonyloctadec-9-enoic acid,and (E)-8-sulfonyloctadec-9-enoic acid, and salts thereof. Otherembodiments include the Z-isomer or combinations of Z- and E-isomers ofsuch compounds.

In other embodiments, the compounds of the invention may include, butare not limited to 2-((a11-E)-9-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)aceticacid, 2-((a11-E)-10-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((a11-E)-8-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((a11-E)-11-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((a11-E)-9-nitrooctadeca-9,12,15-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((a11-E)-10-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((a11-E)-8-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-((a11-E)-1′-nitrooctadeca-6,9,12-trienyloxy)acetic acid,2-(a11-E)-(8-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)acetic acid,2-(a11-E)-(9-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)acetic acid,2-(a11-E)-(7-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)acetic acid,2-(a11-E)-(10-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)acetic acid,3-(a11-E)-(8-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)propionic acid,3-(a11-E)-(9-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)propionic acid,3-(a11-E)-(7-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)propionic acid,3-(a11-E)-(10-nitroeicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenylthio)propionic acid,3-(3E,6E)-6-nitronona-3,6-dienylthiopropionic acid,3-(3E,6E)-7-nitronona-3,6-dienylthiopropionic acid,3-(1-nitrotetradecylthio)propanoic acid,3-nitro-3-(tetradecylthio)propanoic acid,2-(1-nitrotetradecylthio)propanoic acid,2-nitro-3-(tetradecylthio)propanoic acid,3-(a11-E)-(9,12-dinitrooctadeca-9,12,15-trienthio)propionic acid,3-(a11-E)-(9,15-dinitrooctadeca-9,12,15-trienthio)propionic acid,3-(a11-E)-(12,15-dinitrooctadeca-9,12,15-trienthio)propionic acid,3-(a11-E)-(9,12,15-trinitrooctadeca-9,12,15-trienthio)propionic acid,3-(1-nitrotetradecylsulfinyl)propionic acid,3-nitro-3-tetradecylsulfinyl)propionic-acid,3-nitro-3-(1-nitrotetradecylsulfinyl)propionic acid,2-(1-nitrotetradecylsulfinyl)acetic acid,2-nitro-2-(tetradecylsulfinyl)acetic acid,2-((9E,12E)-9-nitrooctadeca-9,12-dienylsulfinyl)acetic acid,2-((9E,12E)-8-nitrooctadeca-9,12-dienylsulfinyl)acetic acid, and2-((9E,12E)-12-nitrooctadeca-9,12-dienylsulfinyl)acetic acid and saltsthereof. Still other embodiments include the Z-isomer or combinations ofZ- and E-isomers of such compounds.

The activated fatty acids described above may be prepared as apharmaceutically acceptable formulation. The term “pharmaceuticallyacceptable” is used herein to mean that the compound is appropriate foruse in a pharmaceutical product. For example, pharmaceuticallyacceptable cations include metallic ions and organic ions. Morepreferred metallic ions include, but are not limited to, appropriatealkali metal salts, alkaline earth metal salts and other physiologicalacceptable metal ions. Exemplary ions include aluminum, calcium,lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and zinc in their usual valences.Preferred organic ions include protonated tertiary amines and quaternaryammonium cations, including in part, trimethylamine, diethylamine,N,N′-dibenzylethylenediamine, chloroprocaine, choline, diethanolamine,ethylenediamine, meglumine (N-methylglucamine) and procaine. Exemplarypharmaceutically acceptable acids include, without limitation,hydrochloric acid, hydroiodic acid, hydrobromic acid, phosphoric acid,sulfuric acid, methanesulfonic acid, acetic acid, formic acid, tartaricacid, maleic acid, malic acid, citric acid, isocitric acid, succinicacid, lactic acid, gluconic acid, glucuronic acid, pyruvic acid,oxalacetic acid, fumaric acid, propionic acid, aspartic acid, glutamicacid, benzoic acid, and the like.

Isomeric and tautomeric forms of activated fatty acids of the inventionas well as pharmaceutically acceptable salts of these compounds are alsoencompassed by the invention. Exemplary pharmaceutically acceptablesalts are prepared from formic, acetic, propionic, succinic, glycolic,gluconic, lactic, malic, tartaric, citric, ascorbic, glucuronic, maleic,fumaric, pyruvic, aspartic, glutamic, benzoic, anthranilic, mesylic,stearic, salicylic, p-hydroxybenzoic, phenylacetic, mandelic, embonic(pamoic), methanesulfonic, ethanesulfonic, benzenesulfonic, pantothenic,toluenesulfonic, 2-hydroxyethanesulfonic, sulfanilic,cyclohexylaminosulfonic, algenic, .beta.-hydroxybutyric, galactaric andgalacturonic acids.

Suitable pharmaceutically acceptable base addition salts used inconnection with the activated fatty acids of the invention includemetallic ion salts and organic ion salts. Exemplary metallic ion saltsinclude, but are not limited to, appropriate alkali metal (group Ia)salts, alkaline earth metal (group IIa) salts and other physiologicalacceptable metal ions. Such salts can be made from the ions of aluminum,calcium, lithium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and zinc. Preferredorganic salts can be made from tertiary amines and quaternary ammoniumsalts, including in pail, trimethylamine, diethylamine,N,N′-dibenzylethylenediamine, chloroprocaine, choline, diethanolamine,ethylenediamine, meglumine (N-methylglucamine) and procaine. All of theabove salts can be prepared by those skilled in the art by conventionalmeans from the corresponding compound of the present invention.

Activated fatty acids as described in various embodiments of theinvention above, may be administered to individuals to treat, ameliorateand/or prevent a number both acute and chronic inflammatory andmetabolic conditions. In particular embodiments, activated fatty acidsmay be used to treat acute conditions including general inflammation,autoimmune disease, autoinflammatory disease, arterial stenosis, organtransplant rejection and burns, and chronic conditions such as, chroniclung injury and respiratory distress, diabetes, hypertension, obesity,arthritis, neurodegenerative disorders and various skin disorders.However, in other embodiments, activated fatty acids may be used totreat any condition having symptoms including chronic or acuteinflammation, such as, for example, arthritis, lupus, Lyme's disease,gout, sepsis, hyperthermia, ulcers, enterocolitis, osteoporosis, viralor bacterial infections, cytomegalovirus, periodontal disease,glomerulonephritis, sarcoidosis, lung disease, lung inflammation,fibrosis of the lung, asthma, acquired respiratory distress syndrome,tobacco induced lung disease, granuloma formation, fibrosis of theliver, graft vs. host disease, postsurgical inflammation, coronary andperipheral vessel restenosis following angioplasty, stent placement orbypass graft, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), acute and chronicleukemia, B lymphocyte leukemia, neoplastic diseases, arteriosclerosis,atherosclerosis, myocardial inflammation, psoriasis, immunodeficiency,disseminated intravascular coagulation, systemic sclerosis, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer'sdisease, encephalomyelitis, edema, inflammatory bowel disease, hyper IgEsyndrome, cancer metastasis or growth, adoptive immune therapy,reperfusion syndrome, radiation burns, alopecia and the like.

When administered, activated fatty acids may interact with a number ofcellular receptors and/or proteins that mediate inflammation, either byinhibiting or stimulating their activity thereby inhibiting or reducinginflammation. Without wishing to be bound by theory, activated fattyacids may modulate important signaling activities including, forexample, neurotransmission, gene expression, vascular function andinflammatory responses, and chemical properties of activated fatty acidsthat may facilitate these activities include, but are not limited to,the strong, reversible electrophilic nature of the β carbon adjacent tothe electron withdrawing vinyl group, an ability to undergo Nef-likeacid base reactions to release NO, an ability to partition into bothhydrophobic and hydrophilic compartments, and a strong affinity forG-protein coupled receptors and nuclear receptors.

For example, in one embodiment, activated fatty acids may beadministered to mediate cell signaling via multiple G-protein coupledreceptors and nuclear receptors such as, but not limited to, peroxisomeproliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) including PPARα, PPARγ, andPPARδ. PPAR is a nuclear receptor that is expressed throughout anorganism, including in monocytes/macrophages, neutrophils, endothelialcells, adipocytes, epithelial cells, hepatocytes, mesangial cells,vascular smooth muscle cells, neuronal cells and when “activated”induces transcription of a number of target genes. Activation of PPARhas been shown to play various roles in regulating tissue homeostasisincluding, for example, increasing insulin sensitivity, suppress chronicinflammatory processes, reduce circulating free fatty acid levels,correct endothelial dysfunction, reduce fatty streak formation, delayplaque formation, limit blood vessel wall thickening and enhance plaquestabilization and regression. The activated fatty acids embodied hereinmay perform each of these functions associated with PPAR activation.

Moreover, activated fatty acids may perform these functions withoutsignificantly altering normal cellular process. For example, in oneembodiment, an activated fatty acid may be administered to treathypertension by lowering blood pressure to normal levels withoutreducing the blood pressure of the individual below normal levels evenif the activated fatty acid is over-administered. Thus, without wishingto be bound by theory, the activated fatty acids of the invention mayprovide treatment of an individual without the negative affectsassociated with over-administration or over-treatment using traditionalmedications.

Activation of PPAR has been shown to be induced either directly or inpart by a locking reaction in which a critical thiol in a highlyconserved cysteine (Cys 285 of human PPARγ) which is located in a ligandbinding domain of PPAR. Partial activation of PPAR has been shown tooccur when relatively high concentrations of known thiol reactivecompounds, such as 15-deoxy-Δ^(12,14)-prostaglandin J₂ (15-d PGJ₂), areadministered. Without wishing to be bound by theory, activated fattyacids may bind to PPAR covalently at the reactive thiol in the ligandbinding domain of PPAR. Moreover, activated fatty acids may induce aconformational change in PPAR. More specifically, activated fatty acidbinding may result in the C-terminus of the ligand binding domain(α-helix 12) to adopt an active conformation that may promote abeneficial pattern of co-repressor release and co-activator recruitment.Thus, activated fatty acids may enhance PPAR activation andtranscription of PPAR regulated genes beyond that of known PPARactivating compounds.

In addition to activation of PPAR, activated fatty acid administrationmay be useful for activating a number of other factors important forcell signaling. For example, in one embodiment, activated fatty acidsmay be administered to induce gene expression and tissue activity ofheme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) which has been shown to mediate adaptive andprotective responses during inflammation, and activation of an adaptiveor protective inflammatory response mediated by HO may be useful intreating inflammatory diseases such as, but not limited to,atheroscelrosis, acute renal failure, vascular restinosis, transplantrejection, and sepsis. In another embodiment, activated fatty acids mayinduce a reversible post-translational modification of proteins, suchas, for example, glutathione (GSH) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase (GAPDH) by covalently binding to catalytic cysteines onsuch proteins. Without wishing to be bound by theory, the covelentmodification of these proteins by activated fatty acids may increase thehydrophobicity of these proteins inducing translocation of to membranesand suggests a role for redox regulation of enzyme function, cellsignaling and protein trafficking. In yet another embodiment, activatedfatty acids may be administered to repress NF-κB dependent geneexpression and endothelial tumor necrosis factor-α induced expression ofvascular cell adhesion molecules in monocytes and macrophages whichresults in inhibition of rolling and adhesion during inflammation. Thus,activated fatty acids may be useful for treating general inflammationresulting from surgery, injury or infection. In a further embodiment,activated fatty acids may be administered to limit tissue inflammatoryinjury and inhibit the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells byincreasing cellular levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-relatedfactor-2 (Nrf-2) which may be useful in the treatment of a number ofvascular diseases. In some embodiments, activated fatty acids may beadministered to modify the activity of transient receptor potential(TRP) channels such as TRPA1 and TRPV1 and may be capable of modifyingpain and inflammatory signaling. In other embodiments, activated fattyacids may be used to induce heat shock factor (HSF) proteins and inhibitprotein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), and in still other embodiments,activated fatty acids may be administered to activate mitogen-activatedprotein kinases (MAP kinases).

In a still further embodiment, activated fatty acids may be useful forischemic preconditioning. For example, nitrated fatty acids produced bymitochondria in cells under ischemic conditions cause a number ofphysiological changes within the cell that increases cell survival underischemic conditions. By providing activated fatty acids to anindividual, similar ischemic preconditioning may be achieved allowingfor improved survival of, for example, cardiac tissue under ischemicconditions or organs being preserved for optimizing viability andfunction upon transplantation.

The activated fatty acids of the invention can be administered in anyconventional manner by any route where they are active. Administrationcan be systemic or local. For example, administration can be, but is notlimited to, parenteral, subcutaneous, intravenous, intramuscular,intraperitoneal, transdermal, oral, buccal, or ocular routes, orintravaginally, by inhalation, by depot injections, or by implants. Incertain embodiments, the administration may be parenteral orintravenous, all in the presence or absence of stabilizing additivesthat favor extended systemic uptake, tissue half-life and intracellulardelivery. Thus, modes of administration for the compounds of the presentinvention (either alone or in combination with other pharmaceuticals)can be injectable (including short-acting, depot, implant and pelletforms injected subcutaneously or intramuscularly). In some embodiments,an injectable formulation including an activated fatty acid may bedeposited to a site of injury or inflammation, such as, for example, thesite of a surgical incision or a site of inflammation due toarthroscopy, angioplasty, stent placement, by-pass surgery and so on.

In certain other embodiments, the compounds of the invention may beapplied locally as a salve or lotion applied directly to an area ofinflammation. For example, in some embodiments, a lotion or salveincluding activated fatty acids of the invention may be prepared andapplied to a burn, radiation burn, site of dermal disorder, edema,arthritic joint or the like.

Various embodiments, of the invention are also directed to method foradministering activated fatty acids. Specific modes of administrationmay vary and may depend on the indication. The selection of the specificroute of administration and the dose regimen may be adjusted or titratedby the clinician according to methods known to the clinician in order toobtain the optimal clinical response. The amount of compound to beadministered is that amount which is therapeutically effective. Thedosage to be administered will depend on the characteristics of thesubject being treated, e.g., the particular animal treated, age, weight,health, types of concurrent treatment, if any, and frequency oftreatments, and can be easily determined by one of skill in the art(e.g., by the clinician). Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatdosages may be determined with guidance, for example, from Goodman &Goldman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Ninth Edition(1996), Appendix II, pp. 1707-1711 or from Goodman & Goldman's ThePharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Tenth Edition (2001), AppendixII, pp. 475-493 both of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entireties. With respect to conventional prenylation enzymeinhibitors, guidance may be obtained from art-recognized dosage amountsas described, for example, by J. E. Karp, et al., Blood,97(11):3361-3369 (2001) and A. A. Adjei, et al., Cancer Research,60:1871-1877 (2000) hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In various embodiments, an effective amount of an activated fatty aciddelivered during each administration cycle may range from about 10mg/m²/day to about 1000 mg/m²/day. In some embodiments, an effectiveamount may be about 20 mg/m²/day to about 700 mg/m²/day, and in others,an effective amount may be about 30 mg/m²/day to about 600 mg/m²/day. Inparticular embodiments, an effective amount may be about 50 mg/m²/day,about 400 mg/m²/day, about 500 mg/m²/day, or about 600 mg/m²/day. In yetother embodiments, an effective amount of an activated fatty acid mayvary as treatment progresses. For example, a dosage regimen may beincreased or decreased as treatment proceeds through administrationcycles, or the daily dosage may increase or decrease throughoutadministration. In additional embodiments, greater than 1000 mg/m²/daymay be administered because even high doses of activated fatty acid aregenerally tolerable to the patient and may not produce undesiredphysiological effects.

In some embodiments, the dosage regimen as described above may becombined with a secondary form of treatment or a secondary agent

The activated fatty acids of various embodiments may be prepared by anymethod known in the art. For example, in one embodiment, an activatedfatty acid may be prepared by:

i) contacting an unsaturated fatty acid with a mercuric salt and aselenium compound;

ii) contacting the intermediate resulting from step a) with a reagent orreactant that can introduce an electron withdrawing group; and

iii) reacting the intermediate resulting from step b) with an oxidizingagent.

Without wishing to be bound by theory, a selenium compound, such as, forexample, PhSeBr, PhSeCl, PhSeO₂CCF₃, PhSeO₂H, PhSeCN and the like, mayreact with one or more carbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturatedfatty acid to form a three-membered ring intermediate on the fatty acidin a reaction that may be facilitated by the mercuric salt such as, forexample, HgCl₂, Hg(NO₃)₂, Hg(OAc)₂ and the like as depicted in step I ofthe reaction below:

The source of the electron withdrawing group may be any compound knownin the art that is capable of generating an electron withdrawing groupthat can be incorporated into the activated fatty acid, such as, forexample, NaNO₂, AgNO₂, HSO₂OH, and the like. Without wishing to be boundby theory, the electron withdrawing group (X in the reaction schemeabove) may become joined to the hydrocarbon chain by displacing, forexample, the bromine that was associated with the selenium compound asdepicted in step II of the reaction scheme provided above. It is notedthat the electron withdrawing groups may also react directly with thethree-membered ring episelenonium ion shown in step I at the positionwhere the bromine is shown as attacking. Finally, as depicted in stepIII of the reaction scheme provided above, the oxidizing agent forms areactive selenium-oxo functional group, which undergo molecularrearrangement and elimination of ZSeOH leading to formation of theelectron withdrawing vinyl (depicted as a nitro vinyl) on thehydrocarbon chain. Z in the reaction scheme above may be any number ofgroups. For example, in certain embodiments, Z may be a phenyl group.

In other embodiments, an activated fatty acid may be prepared using amodified aldol condensation such as the Henry reaction. A review of theHenry reaction and methods related to the Henry method can be found, forexample, in Frederick A. Luzzio, F. A. “The Henry reaction: recentexamples” Tetrahedron 2001, 57, 915-945 which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. Known variations of the Henry reaction mayalso be useful in preparing activated fatty acids and all such methodsare embodied herein. For example, in some embodiments, variations of theHenry reaction including, but not limited to, the Wittig-like variationof the Henry reaction, the Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons variation of theHenry reaction, and the Peterson-olefination variation of the Henryreaction. In such methods, double bonds are formed using the assistanceof groups temporarily included in the reactants but that do are notincluded in the product. For example, the Wittig reaction usesphosphorus ylides to aid in the condensation reactions with carbonylsand in the dehydration reaction to form alkenes. TheHorner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction uses phosphonate esters, and thePeterson olefination uses silicon reagents for the condensation anddehydration steps. A review of major alkene-forming name reactions byreaction of a functionalized reagent with a carbonyl compound includingthe Wittig reaction, Horner-Wittig, Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons can befound, for example, in Peterson, Johnson, and Julia reactions.Blakemore, P. R. “The modified Julia olefination: alkene synthesis viathe condensation of metallated heteroarylalkylsulfones with carbonylcompounds J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1, 2002, 2563-2585 which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The Henry “nitro-aldol” reaction is the condensation of a nitroalkanewith either an aldehyde or a ketone carbonyl containing compound to forma nitro-aldo product with the newly-formed beta-hydroxynitroalkyl group.Dehydration (loss of water) from nitro-aldol products leads to theformation of nitroalkenes. There are many methods to perform thenitroalkane-carbonyl condensation reaction to make nitro-aldols andthere are many methods for the dehydration reaction to formnitroalkenes. Examples of such methods can be found in, for example,Woodcock, S. R.; Marwitz, A. J. V. Bruno, P.; Branchaud, B. P.“Synthesis of Nitrolipids. All Four Possible Diastereomers of NitrooleicAcids: (E)- and (Z)-, 9- and 10-Nitro-octadec-9-enoic Acids” OrganicLetters, 2006, 8, 3931-3934 which provides one regioisomer and usuallyone of two possible alkene cis/trans or Z/E diastereomers, in highpurity and usually in high chemical yield, which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entireties.

Enantioselective Henry reactions are also possible and may require theuse of one or more catalysts for the reaction, and embodiments of theinvention, include the use of such methods to prepare stereospecificisomers of nitroalkenes. For example, Boruwa, J.; Gogoi, N.; Saikia, P.P.; and Barua, N.C. “Catalytic Asymmetric Henry Reaction” Tetrahedron:Asymmetry 2006, 17, 3315-3326 which is hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety, describes methods for preparing stereospecific isomersof nitoralkenes.

In still other embodiments, alkenes (olefins) may be prepared bymetal-mediated cross coupling reactions (joining together of twomolecules to make one new molecule) by condensation onto a carbonylcompound. Such methods have not been applied to the formation ofnitroalkenes or to the formation of other alkenes withelectron-withdrawing substituents, but such methods could be adapted tothe synthesis of alkenes with electron-withdrawing substituents. Forexample, named cross coupling reactions such as the Heck, Suzuki andStille coupling, along with others may be used to prepare activatedfatty acids. Such methods are well known in the art. A review of suchreactions of can be found in, for example, Metal-CatalyzedCross-Coupling Reactions de Meijere, Armin/Diederich, Francois (eds.)Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2004. XXII, ISBN-10: 3-527-30518-1 and ISBN-13:978-3-527-30518-6 which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

Examples of various embodiments of methods for preparing activated fattyacids may at least include the following steps:

i) combining a first component at least including an aliphatichydrocarbon having an electron withdrawing group at one end with ansecond component including aliphatic hydrocarbon chain having analdehyde at one end in the presence of a base to form a firstintermediate; and

ii) generating an alkene from the first intermediate.

Exemplary reactions are presented in schemes I and II below:

In reaction schemes I and II, the variable X represents an electronwithdrawing group and can be any electron withdrawing group discussedherein above or known in the art. The variables n and m represent anumber of carbon atoms in the aliphatic hydrocarbon chain, and n and mcan be any number. For example, the aliphatic hydrocarbon chains of anyof the starting compound may be from 2-20 carbons in length. Moreover,the position of the double bond and the arrangement of the electronwithdrawing group in relation to the double bond may be determinedspecifically, and particular activated fatty acids may be created inhigh yield. For example, an oleic acid may be produced by the reactionof scheme I by combining a first substrate where m is 10 and a secondsubstrate where n is 2.

Any activated fatty acid may be produced using the method presentedabove, and both naturally-occurring and naturally ornon-naturally-occurring analogs may be synthesized. For example;synthesis of an exemplary nitrated fatty acids may be produced asillustrated in the general synthetic method is shown in III, below.

In such embodiments, R₁ and R₂ can include any number of carbons. Forexample in one embodiment, a naturally occurring fatty acid having aneven number of carbons (20 carbons total, in this case) may be preparedfrom components where R₂ is CH₂CH₃ and R₁ is (CH₂)₁₅CO₂R₃, where R₃ is aprotecting group for the carboxylic acid functional group found in fattyacids. Similarly, a naturally or non-naturally occurring fatty acidhaving an odd number of carbons (19 carbons total, in this case) may beprepared from components where R₂ is CH₂CH₃ and R₁ is (CH₂)₁₄CO₂R₃,where R₃ is a protecting group for the carboxylic acid functional groupfound in fatty acids. The method illustrated in scheme III can beapplied to the synthesis of essentially any nitrated lipid having eitheran even or an odd number of carbons by incorporating different R₁ and R₂groups. For example, each of R₁ and R₂ may be an aliphatic orsubstituted aliphatic carbon chain having from 1 to 20 carbons, althoughany greater number of carbons is also possible. Moreover, individual R₁and/or R₂ groups may include any number of carbon-carbon double bonds,which may or may not include associated electron withdrawing groupsattached to an alpha, beta, or gamma carbon of the carbon-carbon doublebond. Similarly, individual R₁ and R₂ groups may include branchedchains. In such embodiments, the additional carbon-carbon double bondsassociated with R₁ and/or R₂ may be conjugated, unconjugated, orpartially conjugated with one another or will become conjugated with acarbon-carbon double bond created as a result of the reaction. Asindicated above, the reaction depicted in scheme III may be carried outsequentially to create an activated fatty acid having more than onecarbon-carbon double bond with associated electron withdrawing groups.In such embodiments, individual R₁ and R₂ groups for each reaction in asequence may be from 1 to about 12 carbons, although any greater numberof carbons is also possible.

In some embodiments, individual R₁ and R₂ groups may contain additionalfunctional groups other than double bonds, which may or may not beassociated with a carbon-carbon double bond either existing before thereaction is carried out or following the reaction illustrated in SchemeIII. For example, individual R₁ and R₂ groups may include functionalgroups such as, but not limited to, alkynes, as a part of the chain,with the alkyne in the chain, alcohols, aldehyde carbonyls, ketonecarbonyls, derivatives of carbonyl aldehydes and ketones, such as,oximes, hydrazones and any other carbonyl derivative known in the art,amines, amines with other groups known in the art attached to the amine,thiols, thiols with other groups known in the art attached to thethiols, any other functional group known in the art, either as thesimple functional group or the functional group with another chain orgroup attached to it. Such functional groups may be attached to a carbonin the linear or branched chain. Without wishing to be bound by theory,the addition of additional functional groups may alter the targeting andbioavailability of the activated fatty acids of embodiments, such thatspecific cells or targets it within cells can be targeted.

In yet other embodiments, molecules may contain more than one carbonchain, with two or more carbon chains joined together by a non-carbongroup, and in some embodiments, each of the carbon chains can bebranched or linear. For example, in certain embodiments, non-carbonfunctional groups that can join two or more carbon chains togetherinclude, but are not limited to; those in the very common functionalgroups listed below:

Ethers R₁—O—R₂,

Amines R₁—NR₃—R₂,

Esters R₁—C(═O)—O—R₂,

Amides R₁—C(═O)—NR₃—R₂

ThioEsters R₁—C(═S)—O—R₂ or R₁—C(═O)—S —R₂

ThioAmides R₁—C(═S)—NR₃—R₂

In addition to the common non-carbon multivalent elements found inorganics compounds and shown above (oxygen, nitrogen & sulfur), otherfunctional groups known in the art, and based on any other non-carbonmultivalent element may be used in embodiments of the invention. Invarious embodiments, any of the non-carbon chains described above couldbe incorporated into activated fatty acids using the general syntheticapproach shown in III, above, in which the non-carbon chains are in R₁,R₂, or both.

Preparation of heteroatom containing activated fatty acids may becarried out using the same methodology as described above forintroducing an electron withdrawing group to an unsaturated fatty acid.For example, in some embodiments, an unsaturated aliphatic chaincontaining toluenesulfonate may be combined with a mercaptoalkanoic acidsuch as, for example, an 2-mercaptoacetic acid or 3-mercaptopropionicacid, or an hydroxyalkanoic acid such as, for example, 2-hydroxyaceticacid or 3-hydroxypropionic acid, in an appropriate solvent to produce athioalkanoic acid or oxyalkanoic acid covalently attached to theunsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphatic chain, and in otherembodiments, an unsaturated aliphatic chain containing a halogen suchas, for example, a Cl or Br, end group be combined with amercaptoalkanoic acid such as, for example, 2-mercaptoacetic acid or3-mercaptopropionic acid, or an hydroxyalkanoic acid such as, forexample, 2-hydroxyacetic acid or 3-hydroxypropionic acid, in anappropriate solvent to produce a thioalkanoic acid or oxyalkanoic acid,covalently attached to the unsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphaticchain. In still other embodiments, a sulfinylalkanoic acid may beprepared by drying a thioalkanoic acid prepared as described above andmaintaining the dried product in an oxygen rich environment for aseveral days. In such embodiments, an electron withdrawing group may beintroduced onto the unsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphatic chain byany of the methods provided above either before or after formation ofthe thioalkanoic acid, oxyalkanoic acid, or sulfinylalkanoic acid.

Pharmaceutical formulations containing the compounds of the inventionand a suitable carrier can be in various forms including, but notlimited to, solids, solutions, powders, fluid emulsions, fluidsuspensions, semi-solids, and dry powders including an effective amountof an activated fatty acid of the invention. It is also known in the artthat the active ingredients can be contained in such formulations withpharmaceutically acceptable diluents, fillers, disintegrants, binders,lubricants, surfactants, hydrophobic vehicles, water soluble vehicles,emulsifiers, buffers, humectants, moisturizers, solubilizers,antioxidants, preservatives and the like. The means and methods foradministration are known in the art and an artisan can refer to variouspharmacologic references for guidance. For example, ModernPharmaceutics, Banker & Rhodes, Marcel Dekker, Inc. (1979); and Goodman& Gilman's, The Pharmaceutical Basis of Therapeutics, 6th Edition,MacMillan Publishing Co., New York (1980) both of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties can be consulted.

The compounds of the present invention can be formulated for parenteralor intravenous administration by injection, e.g., by bolus injection orcontinuous infusion. Formulations for injection can be presented in unitdosage form, e.g., in ampoules or in multi-dose containers, with anadded preservative. The compositions can take such forms as suspensions,solutions or emulsions in oily or aqueous vehicles, and can containformulatory agents such as suspending, stabilizing and/or dispersingagents.

Injectable preparations, for example, sterile injectable aqueous oroleaginous suspensions may be formulated according to the known artusing suitable dispersing or wetting agents and suspending agents. Thesterile injectable preparation may also be a sterile injectable solutionor suspension in a nontoxic parenterally acceptable diluent or solvent,for example, as a solution in 1,3-butanediol. Among the acceptablevehicles and solvents that may be employed are water, Ringer's solution,and isotonic sodium chloride solution. In addition, sterile, fixed oilsare conventionally employed as a solvent or suspending medium. For thispurpose any bland fixed oil may be employed including synthetic mono- ordiglycerides. In addition, fatty acids diluents such as oleic acid finduse in the preparation of injectables. Additional fatty acids diluentsthat may be useful in embodiments of the invention include, for example,one or more of stearic acid, metallic stearate, sodium stearyl fumarate,fatty acid, fatty alcohol, fatty acid ester, glyceryl behenate, mineraloil, vegetable oil, paraffin, leucine, silica, silicic acid, talc,propylene glycol fatty acid ester, polyethoxylated castor oil,polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, polyalkylene glycol,polyoxyethylene-glycerol fatty ester, polyoxyethylene fatty alcoholether, polyethoxylated sterol, polyethoxylated castor oil,polyethoxylated vegetable oil, and the like. In some embodiments, thefatty acid diluent may be a mixture of fatty acids. In some embodiments,the fatty acid may be a fatty acid ester, a sugar ester of fatty acid, aglyceride of fatty acid, or an ethoxylated fatty acid ester, and inother embodiments, the fatty acid diluent may be a fatty alcohol suchas, for example, stearyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol, palmityl alcohol,palmitolyl acid, cetyl alcohol, capryl alcohol, caprylyl alcohol, oleylalcohol, linolenyl alcohol, arachidonic alcohol, behenyl alcohol,isobehenyl alcohol, selachyl alcohol, chimyl alcohol, and linoleylalcohol and the like and mixtures thereof.

Other embodiments of the invention include activated fatty acid preparedas described above which are formulated as a solid dosage form for oraladministration including capsules, tablets, pills, powders, andgranules. In such embodiments, the active compound may be admixed withone or more inert diluent such as sucrose, lactose, or starch. Suchdosage forms may also comprise, as in normal practice, additionalsubstances other than inert diluents, e.g., lubricating agents such asmagnesium stearate. In the case of capsules, tablets, and pills, thedosage forms may also comprise buffering agents and can additionally beprepared with enteric coatings.

Preparation of an activated fatty acid in solid dosage form may vary.For example, in one embodiment, a liquid or gelatin formulation of theactivated fatty acid may be prepared by combining the activated fattyacid with one or more fatty acid diluent, such as those described above,and adding a thickening agent to the liquid mixture to form a gelatin.The gelatin may then be encapsulated in unit dosage form to form acapsule. In another exemplary embodiment, an oily preparation of anactivated fatty acid prepared as described above may be lyophilized tofor a solid that may be mixed with one or more pharmaceuticallyacceptable excipient, carrier or diluent to form a tablet, and in yetanother embodiment, the activated fatty acid of an oily preparation maybe crystallized to from a solid which may be combined with apharmaceutically acceptable excipient, carrier or diluent to form atablet.

Further embodiments which may be useful for oral administration ofactivated fatty acids include liquid dosage forms. In such embodiments,a liquid dosage may include a pharmaceutically acceptable emulsion,solution, suspension, syrup, and elixir containing inert diluentscommonly used in the art, such as water. Such compositions may alsocomprise adjuvants, such as wetting agents, emulsifying and suspendingagents, and sweetening, flavoring, and perfuming agents.

In still further embodiments, activated fatty acids of the invention canbe formulated as a depot preparation. Such long acting formulations canbe administered by implantation (for example, subcutaneously orintramuscularly) or by intramuscular injection. Depot injections can beadministered at about 1 to about 6 months or longer intervals. Thus, forexample, the compounds can be formulated with suitable polymeric orhydrophobic materials (for example, as an emulsion in an acceptable oil)or ion exchange resins, or as sparingly soluble derivatives, forexample, as a sparingly soluble salt.

Other suitable diluents for injectable formulations include, but are notlimited to those described below:

Vegetable oil: As used herein, the term “vegetable oil” refers to acompound, or mixture of compounds, formed from ethoxylation of vegetableoil, wherein at least one chain of polyethylene glycol is covalentlybound to the vegetable oil. In some embodiments, the fatty acids hasbetween about twelve carbons to about eighteen carbons. In someembodiments, the amount of ethoxylation can vary from about 2 to about200, about 5 to 100, about 10 to about 80, about 20 to about 60, orabout 12 to about 18 of ethylene glycol repeat units. The vegetable oilmay be hydrogenated or unhydrogenated. Suitable vegetable oils include,but are not limited to castor oil, hydrogenated castor oil, sesame oil,corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, soybeanoil, benzyl benzoate, sesame oil, cottonseed oil, and palm oil. Othersuitable vegetable oils include commercially available synthetic oilssuch as, but not limited to, Miglyol™ 810 and 812 (available fromDynamit Nobel Chemicals, Sweden) Neobee™ M5 (available from DrewChemical Corp.), Alofine™ (available from Jarchem Industries), theLubritab™ series (available from JRS Pharma), the Sterotex™ (availablefrom Abitec Corp.), Softisan™ 154 (available from Sasol), Croduret™(available from Croda), Fancol™ (available from the Fanning Corp.),Cutina™ HR (available from Cognis), Simulsol™ (available from CJPetrow), EmCon™ CO (available from Amisol Co.), Lipvol™ CO, SES, andHS-K (available from Lipo), and Sterotex™ HM (available from AbitecCorp.). Other suitable vegetable oils, including sesame, castor, corn,and cottonseed oils, include those listed in R. C. Rowe and P. J.Shesky, Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients, (2006), 5th ed., which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Suitablepolyethoxylated vegetable oils, include but are not limited to,Cremaphor™ EL or RH series (available from BASF), Emulphor™ EL-719(available from Stepan products), and Emulphor™ EL-620P (available fromGAF).

Mineral oils: As used herein, the term “mineral oil” refers to bothunrefined and refined (light) mineral oil. Suitable mineral oilsinclude, but are not limited to, the Avatech™ grades (available fromAvatar Corp.), Drakeol™ grades (available from Penreco), Sirius™ grades(available from Shell), and the Citation™ grades (available from AvaterCorp.).

Castor oils: As used herein, the term “castor oil”, refers to a compoundformed from the ethoxylation of castor oil, wherein at least one chainof polyethylene glycol is covalently bound to the castor oil. The castoroil may be hydrogenated or unhydrogenated. Synonyms for polyethoxylatedcastor oil include, but are not limited to polyoxyl castor oil,hydrogenated polyoxyl castor oil, mcrogolglyceroli ricinoleas,macrogolglyceroli hydroxystearas, polyoxyl 35 castor oil, and polyoxyl40 hydrogenated castor oil. Suitable polyethoxylated castor oilsinclude, but are not limited to, the Nikkol™ HCO series (available fromNikko Chemicals Co. Ltd.), such as Nikkol HCO-30, HC-40, HC-50, andHC-60 (polyethylene glycol-30 hydrogenated castor oil, polyethyleneglycol-40 hydrogenated castor oil, polyethylene glycol-50 hydrogenatedcastor oil, and polyethylene glycol-60 hydrogenated castor oil,Emulphor™ EL-719 (castor oil 40 mole-ethoxylate, available from StepanProducts), the Cremophore™ series (available from BASF), which includesCremophore RII40, RII60, and EL35 (polyethylene glycol-40 hydrogenatedcastor oil, polyethylene glycol-60 hydrogenated castor oil, andpolyethylene glycol-35 hydrogenated castor oil, respectively), and theEmulgin® RO and HRE series (available from Cognis PharmaLine). Othersuitable polyoxyethylene castor oil derivatives include those listed inR. C. Rowe and P. J. Shesky, Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients,(2006), 5th ed., which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Sterol: As used herein, the term “sterol” refers to a compound, ormixture of compounds, derived from the ethoxylation of sterol molecule.Suitable polyethoyxlated sterols include, but are not limited to, PEG-24cholesterol ether, Solulan™ C-24 (available from Amerchol); PEG-30cholestanol, Nikkol™ DHC (available from Nikko); Phytosterol, GENEROL™series (available from Henkel); PEG-25 phyto sterol, Nikkol™ BPSH-25(available from Nikko); PEG-5 soya sterol, Nikkol™ BPS-5 (available fromNikko); PEG-10 soya sterol, Nikkol™ BPS-10 (available from Nikko);PEG-20 soya sterol, Nikkol™ BPS-20 (available from Nikko); and PEG-30soya sterol, Nikkol™ BPS-30 (available from Nikko). As used herein, theterm “PEG” refers to polyethylene glycol.

Polyethylene glycol: As used herein, the term “polyethylene glycol” or“PEG” refers to a polymer containing ethylene glycol monomer units offormula —O—CH₂—CH₂—. Suitable polyethylene glycols may have a freehydroxyl group at each end of the polymer molecule, or may have one ormore hydroxyl groups etherified with a lower alkyl, e.g., a methylgroup. Also suitable are derivatives of polyethylene glycols havingesterifiable carboxy groups. Polyethylene glycols useful in the presentinvention can be polymers of any chain length or molecular weight, andcan include branching. In some embodiments, the average molecular weightof the polyethylene glycol is from about 200 to about 9000. In someembodiments, the average molecular weight of the polyethylene glycol isfrom about 200 to about 5000. In some embodiments, the average molecularweight of the polyethylene glycol is from about 200 to about 900. Insome embodiments, the average molecular weight of the polyethyleneglycol is about 400. Suitable polyethylene glycols include, but are notlimited to polyethylene glycol-200, polyethylene glycol-300,polyethylene glycol-400, polyethylene glycol-600, and polyethyleneglycol-900. The number following the dash in the name refers to theaverage molecular weight of the polymer. In some embodiments, thepolyethylene glycol is polyethylene glycol-400. Suitable polyethyleneglycols include, but are not limited to the Carbowax™ and Carbowax™Sentry series (available from Dow), the Lipoxol™ series (available fromBrenntag), the Lutrol™ series (available from BASF), and the Pluriol™series (available from BASF).

Propylene glycol fatty acid ester: As used herein, the term “propyleneglycol fatty acid ester” refers to an monoether or diester, or mixturesthereof, formed between propylene glycol or polypropylene glycol and afatty acid. Fatty acids that are useful for deriving propylene glycolfatty alcohol ethers include, but are not limited to, those definedherein. In some embodiments, the monoester or diester is derived frompropylene glycol. In some embodiments, the monoester or diester hasabout 1 to about 200 oxypropylene units. In some embodiments, thepolypropylene glycol portion of the molecule has about 2 to about 100oxypropylene units. In some embodiments, the monoester or diester hasabout 4 to about 50 oxypropylene units. In some embodiments, themonoester or diester has about 4 to about 30 oxypropylene units.Suitable propylene glycol fatty acid esters include, but are not limitedto, propylene glycol laurates: Lauroglycol™ FCC and 90 (available fromGattefosse); propylene glycol caprylates: Capryol™ PGMC and 90(available from Gatefosse); and propylene glycol dicaprylocaprates:Labrafac™ PG (available from Gatefosse).

Stearoyl macrogol glyceride: Stearoyl macrogol glyceride refers to apolyglycolized glyceride synthesized predominately from stearic acid orfrom compounds derived predominately from stearic acid, although otherfatty acids or compounds derived from other fatty acids may used in thesynthesis as well. Suitable stearoyl macrogol glycerides include, butare not limited to, Gelucire® 50/13 (available from Gattefossé).

In some embodiments, the diluent component comprises one or more ofmannitol, lactose, sucrose, maltodextrin, sorbitol, xylitol, powderedcellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, carboxymethylcellulose,carboxyethylcellulose, methylcellulose, ethylcellulose,hydroxyethylcellulose, methylhydroxyethylcellulose, starch, sodiumstarch glycolate, pregelatinized starch, a calcium phosphate, a metalcarbonate, a metal oxide, or a metal aluminosilicate.

Exemplary excipients or carriers for use in solid and/or liquid dosageforms include, but are not limited to:

Sorbitol: Suitable sorbitols include, but are not limited to,PharmSorbidex E420 (available from Cargill), Liponic 70-NC and 76-NC(available from Lipo Chemical), Neosorb (available from Roquette),Partech SI (available from Merck), and Sorbogem (available from SPIPolyols).

Starch, sodium starch glycolate, and pregelatinized starch include, butare not limited to, those described in R. C. Rowe and P. J. Shesky,Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients, (2006), 5th ed., which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Disintegant: The disintegrant may include one or more of croscarmellosesodium, carmellose calcium, crospovidone, alginic acid, sodium alginate,potassium alginate, calcium alginate, an ion exchange resin, aneffervescent system based on food acids and an alkaline carbonatecomponent, clay, talc, starch, pregelatinized starch, sodium starchglycolate, cellulose floc, carboxymethylcellulose,hydroxypropylcellulose, calcium silicate, a metal carbonate, sodiumbicarbonate, calcium citrate, or calcium phosphate.

Still further embodiments of the invention include activated fatty acidsadministered in combination with other active such as, for example,adjuvants, protease inhibitors, or other compatible drugs or compoundswhere such combination is seen to be desirable or advantageous inachieving the desired effects of the methods described herein.

This invention and embodiments illustrating the method and materialsused may be further understood by reference to the followingnon-limiting examples.

Example 1 Preparation of (E)-9-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid

Commercially available 9-bromononanol was oxidized using Jones' reagent,chromium trioxide (CrO₃) in concentrated sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), 67%, toform a carboxylic acid protected as an allyl ester (92% yield) and wasnitrated using the Kornblum method, silver nitrate (AgNO₂) in diethylether (Et₂O), to form 9-nitro-nonanoic acid, allyl ester, in an overallyield of 42%. Nitroaldol condensation was then carried out by combiningthis intermediate with commercially available nonyl aldehyde in thepresence of a catalytic amount of (10 mol %) of DBU to produceβ-hydroxynitro (81% yield) as a 1:1 mixture of diastereomers. Theβ-hydroxynitroester intermediate was acetylated in acetic anhydride witha catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid to produce a β-acetoxynitroester intermediate in high yield, and the nitroalkene was generated byfrom the β-acetoxynitro ester intermediate by base-induced eliminationwith azeotropic removal of water in 0.5 equivalence of sodium carbonate.The stereoselectively clean (E)-isomer nitroalkene was produced in 84%yield and did not require isomerization or deconjugation of double bondsto form allylic nitroalkanes. A free acid of the produced nitroalkenewas accomplished by palladium catalyzed isomerization in the presence offormic acid to produce the free acid (E)-9-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid in95% yield. Overall yield from commercially available starting productswas 56%. Because of the base sensitivity of nitroalkenes acidicconditions were consistently throughout both reaction and work-up werepossible.

Example 2 Preparation of (E)-3-(8-nitroheptadec-8-enylthio)acetic acid

2-Mercaptoacetic acid (288 mg, 3.13 mmol) can be added under nitrogen toa stirred solution of sodium methoxide, prepared from 180 mg (7.83 mmol)of sodium and 20 mls of methanol. After dissolution, a solution of(E)-1-bromo-9-nitro-octadec-9-ene (725 mg, 2.61 mmol) in diethyl ether(2 ml) can be added and mixture can be stirred for about 16 hours atroom temperature. The crude reaction mixture can be poured into an equalvolume of hydrochloric acid, the organic phase can be separated andwashed with water, and the solution can be dried over sodium sulfate.

(E)-1-bromo-9-nitro-octadec-9-ene can be prepared by bromination of(E)-9-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid.

Example 3 Preparation of Nitrated Linoleic Acid

Any nitrated linoleic acid or oleic acid described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/568,377, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety, can be nitrated by bromination of a nitratedlinoleic acid or oleic acid by conventional means and adding thebrominated nitrated linoleic acid in diethyl ether to 2-Mercaptoaceticacid (288 mg, 3.13 mmol) that has been stirred under nitrogen in asolution of sodium methoxide, prepared from 180 mg (7.83 mmol) of sodiumand 20 mls of methanol. The resulting mixture can be stirred for about16 hrs at room temperature. The crude reaction mixture can be pouredinto an equal volume of hydrochloric acid, the organic phase can beseparated and washed with water, and the solution can be dried oversodium sulfate.

Example 4 Preparation of 3-(3E,6E)-6-nitronona-3,6-dienylthiopropionicacid

3-Mercaptopropionic acid (150 mg, 1.41 mmol, 1.5 eq) can be added, underan atmosphere of dry nitrogen, to a stirred solution of sodiummethoxide, prepared from sodium (64 mg, 2.78 mmol, 3 eq) and methanol(20 ml). After the initial white precipitate had dissolved, a solutionof (3Z,6Z)-nona-3,6-dienyl p-toluenesulfonate (276 mg, 0.94 mmol) indiethyl ether can be added. The mixture can be stirred at 40° C. forseveral days under nitrogen, hydrochloric acid (10% v/v, 20 ml) anddiethyl ether (20 ml) can be poured into the crude reaction mixture. Theorganic phase can be collected and washed with water and brine, anddried over sodium sulfate. The 3-(3E,6E)-nona-3,6-dienylthiopropionicacid produced can be dissolved in a solvent and PhSeBr and HgCl₂ canadded to the solution followed by an oxidizing agent to form anitro-vinyl group at either on the3-(3E,6E)-nona-3,6-dienylthiopropionic acid thereby producing,3-(3E,6E)-6-nitronona-3,6-dienylthiopropionic acid.

(3Z,6Z)-nona-3,6-dienyl p-toluenesulfonate can be prepared from2-Pentyn-1-ol by dissolving 2-Pentyn-1-ol (1.03 g, 12 mmol) inchloroform (10 ml) and adding pyridine (1.90 g, 24 mmol) followed byp-toluenesulfonyl chloride (3.43 g, 18 mmol) in small portions withconstant stirring. After about 4 hrs, ether (30 ml) and water (7 ml) canbe added and the organic layer can be washed successively with HCl (7ml), 5% NaHCO₃, water (7 ml) to produce pent-2-ynyl p-toluenesolfonate.Pent-2-ynyl p-toluenesolfonate (1.37 g, 5.78 mmol, 1.1 eq) can be addedat low temperature under nitrogen to a well-stirred suspension in DMF(15 ml) of but-3-yn-1-ol (368 mg, 5.25 mmol), sodium carbonate (834 mg,7.87 mmol), tetrabutylammonium chloride (1.46 g, 5.25 mmol) andcopper(I) iodide (1.00 g, 5.25 mmol). The mixture can then be stirred atroom temperature for about 48 hrs, and ether (30 ml) and 1M HCl (30 ml)can be added, the organic phase can be collected and washed with brine,and dried over sodium sulfate to produce nona-3,6-diyn-1-ol.Nona-3,6-diyn-1-ol (198 mg, 1.45 mmol) can be hydrogenated atatmospheric pressure, in the presence of a mixture of quinoline (44 mg)and palladium (5%) on calcium carbonate (100 mg), poisoned with lead inmethanol (25 ml). After several hours, the methanol can be evaporated invacuo, quinoline can be removed by silica gel column chromatographyusing ether-hexane (35:65) as the eluent to produce(3Z,6Z)-nona-3,6-dien-1-ol. (3Z,6Z)-Nona-3,6-dien-1-ol (167 mg, 1.19mmol) can be dissolved in chloroform (5 ml) and the solution can becooled in an ice bath. Pyridine (376 mg, 4.76 mmol) can be added,followed by p-toluenesulfonyl chloride (340 mg, 1.78 mmol) in smallportions with constant stirring. The mixture can be stirred for about 24hrs at low temperature, and ether (15 ml) and water (5 ml) can be added,the organic layer can be collected and washed successively with 1 N HCl(10 ml), 5% NaHCO₃, water (10 ml), and brine (10 ml), and then driedover Na₂SO₄ to produce (3Z,6Z)-nona-3,6-dienyl p-toluenesulfonate.

Example 5

Production of (Z)-Isomers

(Z)-9-nitro-octadec-9-enoic was formed from the(E)-9-nitro-octadec-9-enoic acid using the Ono method as described inOno, N, et al. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1987, 1551-1551 andSharpless et al., Am. Chem. Soc. 1973, 95, 2697-2699, both of which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entireties, at about 80% toabout 90% yield.

1. An activated fatty acid or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereofcomprising an unsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphatic chain having oneor more heteroatoms positioned anywhere on the aliphatic chain and oneor more electron withdrawing group; wherein the at least one of the oneor more electron withdrawing groups are positioned immediately adjacentto the heteroatom or carbon-carbon double bond or immediately adjacentto a carbon immediately adjacent to the heteroatom or carbon-carbondouble bond.
 2. The activated fatty acid of claim 1, wherein theunsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphatic chain comprises from about 4 toabout 25 carbons.
 3. The activated fatty acid of claim 1, where in theunsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphatic chains is selected from thegroup consisting of glycolipids, glycerolipids, phospholipids, and acholesterol esters.
 4. The activated fatty acid of claim 1, wherein theone or more electron withdrawing group of various embodiments mayinclude, but are not limited to, aldehyde (—COH), acyl (—COR), carbonyl(—CO), carboxylic acid (—COOH), ester (—COOR), halides (—Cl, —F, —Br,—I), fluoromethyl (—CF_(n)), allyl fluoride (—CH═CHCH₂F), cyano (—CN),sulfoxide (—SOR), sulfonyl (—SO₂R), sulfonic acid (—SO₃H), 1°, 2°, and3° ammonium (—NR₃ ⁺), or nitro (—NO₂), wherein R is selected from thegroup consisting of hydrogen, methyl, and C₂-C₆ alkyl.
 5. The activatedfatty acid of claim 1, wherein the one or more electron withdrawinggroup is a nitro (—NO₂) group.
 6. The activated fatty acid of claim 1,wherein the one or more electron withdrawing group are positioned on analpha carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated aliphatic chain.
 7. The activated fatty acid of claim 1,wherein the one or more electron withdrawing groups are positioned on abeta carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated aliphatic chain.
 8. The activated fatty acid of claim 1,wherein the one or more electron withdrawing group are positioned on agamma carbon of a carbon-carbon double bond of the unsaturated orpolyunsaturated aliphatic chain.
 9. The activated fatty acid of claim 1,wherein at least one of the one or more electron withdrawing group is anelectron withdrawing vinyl group or an electron withdrawing allylicgroup.
 10. The activated fatty acid of claim 1, wherein a carbon-carbondouble bond associated with the one or more electron withdrawing groupis in a configuration selected from the group consisting of cis andtrans.
 11. The activated fatty acid of claim 1, comprising two or moreconjugated carbon-carbon double bonds.
 12. The activated fatty acid ofclaim 11, wherein at least one of the one or more electron withdrawinggroup is at a carbon in the two or more conjugated carbon-carbon doublebonds.
 13. The activated fatty acid of claim 1, wherein the unsaturatedor polyunsaturated aliphatic chain comprises 18 carbons and at least oneof the one or more electron withdrawing group is positioned at a C-9,C-10, C-12, C-13 or a combination thereof.
 14. The activated fatty acidof claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more heteroatoms arepositioned at the first 1, 2, 3, or 4 carbons from the carboxy terminusof the aliphatic chain to produce a carbonate, acetic acid, propionicacid, or butanoic acid derivatives of the activated fatty acid.
 15. Theactivated fatty acid of claim 1, further comprising one or morenon-carbon-carbon linkage selected from the group consisting of an esterlinkage, an ether linkage, and a vinyl ether linkage.
 16. The activatedfatty acid of claim 1, further comprising one or more functional groupother than an electron withdrawing group.
 17. A pharmaceuticalcomposition comprising: an unsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphaticchain or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt having one or moreheteroatoms positioned anywhere on the aliphatic chain and one or moreelectron withdrawing group, wherein the at least one of the one or moreelectron withdrawing groups are positioned immediately adjacent to theheteroatom or carbon-carbon double bond or immediately adjacent to acarbon immediately adjacent to the heteroatom or carbon-carbon doublebond; and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, excipient, orcombinations thereof.
 18. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 17,further comprising one or more of diluents, fillers, disintegrants,binders, lubricants, surfactants, hydrophobic vehicles, water solublevehicles, emulsifiers, buffers, humectants, moisturizers, solubilizers,antioxidants, preservatives, or combinations thereof.
 19. Thepharmaceutical composition of claim 17, wherein the pharmaceuticalcomposition is formulated as a solid, solution, powder, fluid emulsion,fluid suspension, semi-solid, or dry powder.
 20. The pharmaceuticalcomposition of claim 17, wherein the pharmaceutical compositioncomprises an effective amount of the unsaturated or polyunsaturatedaliphatic chain or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt having one or moreheteroatoms positioned anywhere on the aliphatic chain and one or moreelectron withdrawing group wherein the effective amount is an amountsufficient to treat a condition selected from the group consisting ofarterial stenosis, burns, hypertension, obesity, neurodegenerativedisorders, skin disorders, arthritis, autoimmune disease,autoinflammatory disease, lupus, Lyme's disease, gout, sepsis,hyperthermia, ulcers, enterocolitis, osteoporosis, viral or bacterialinfections, cytomegalovirus, periodontal disease, glomerulonephritis,sarcoidosis, lung disease, chronic lung injury, respiratory distress,lung inflammation, fibrosis of the lung, asthma, acquired respiratorydistress syndrome, tobacco induced lung disease, granuloma formation,fibrosis of the liver, graft vs. host disease, postsurgicalinflammation, coronary and peripheral vessel restenosis followingangioplasty, stent placement or bypass graft, acute and chronicleukemia, B lymphocyte leukemia, neoplastic diseases, arteriosclerosis,atherosclerosis, myocardial inflammation, psoriasis, immunodeficiency,disseminated intravascular coagulation, systemic sclerosis, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer'sdisease, encephalomyelitis, edema, inflammatory bowel disease, hyper IgEsyndrome, cancer metastasis or growth, adoptive immune therapy,reperfusion syndrome, radiation burns, and alopecia.
 21. A method fortreating a condition selected from the group consisting of arterialstenosis, burns, hypertension, obesity, neurodegenerative disorders,skin disorders, arthritis, autoimmune disease, autoinflammatory disease,lupus, Lyme's disease, gout, sepsis, hyperthermia, ulcers,enterocolitis, osteoporosis, viral or bacterial infections,cytomegalovirus, periodontal disease, glomerulonephritis, sarcoidosis,lung disease, chronic lung injury, respiratory distress, lunginflammation, fibrosis of the lung, asthma, acquired respiratorydistress syndrome, tobacco induced lung disease, granuloma formation,fibrosis of the liver, graft vs. host disease, postsurgicalinflammation, coronary and peripheral vessel restenosis followingangioplasty, stent placement or bypass graft, acute and chronicleukemia, B lymphocyte leukemia, neoplastic diseases, arteriosclerosis,atherosclerosis, myocardial inflammation, psoriasis, immunodeficiency,disseminated intravascular coagulation, systemic sclerosis, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer'sdisease, encephalomyelitis, edema, inflammatory bowel disease, hyper IgEsyndrome, cancer metastasis or growth, adoptive immune therapy,reperfusion syndrome, radiation burns, and alopecia, the methodcomprising administering to a subject in need of treatment an effectiveamount of a an unsaturated or polyunsaturated aliphatic chain or apharmaceutically acceptable salt having one or more heteroatomspositioned anywhere on the aliphatic chain and one or more electronwithdrawing group, wherein the at least one of the one or more electronwithdrawing groups are positioned immediately adjacent to the heteroatomor carbon-carbon double bond or immediately adjacent to a carbonimmediately adjacent to the heteroatom or carbon-carbon double bond.